Council takes over Dungiven police station

While the decision to close Eglinton and Dungiven stations was made in May last year, they did not formally close until Easter Monday.

After a consultation on the stations’ future, the PSNI said they were confident they could police the areas without the facilities remaining open.

Earlier this year, the Sentinel revealed that Limavady Borough Council were making moves to acquire the site, with the intention of using the space for community and sports facilities.

That move has now gone through, local councillor Sean McGlinchey told the Sentinel, with a sub-committee already established involving local politicians from different parties to examine how best to implement their plans for the site.

Demolition work is to be done by the council themselves, he said, in order to make the site usable for community, voluntary and sporting provision.

“That is the case, as of now – that has been passed and agreed to with the PSNI Estates Office. The demolition work is to be done by ourselves rather than by the PSNI. That would have taken them about a year and a half to get through all the various process. It was decided that we would do that ourselves and we are just waiting on a price.

“A sub-committee at council has been set up, with Mickey Coyle, Boyd Douglas and Anne Brolly sitting on that. The first meeting was held the week before last.”

Mr McGlinchey, after attending a public consultation meeting in the largely unionist village of Burnfoot, recently pledged his full support to plans to hand some of the land over to the Presbyterian Church. Presbyterian Church representatives told the Sentinel in recent weeks that the land would make a great deal of difference since their Hall is directly adjacent to the former PSNI station.

Speaking this week, Mr McGlinchey said: “We have to sit down with the Presbyterian Church and see what we can do for them. At the minute, it is no use to anybody until the demolition work is done.”

The police, meanwhile, are confident that they can continue to carry out their duties in the area despite the station’s closure.

Area Commander Chief Inspector Jon Burrows said: “During the public consultation period the overwhelming feeling amongst local people was the importance of retaining the level of service provided by police, particularly neighbourhood police, in the area.

“The Waterside Rural Neighbourhood Policing Team is well established in the village and has built up positive relationships with local people, businesses and community representatives.

“The team will continue to police the Eglinton area and are contactable on all the same numbers.

“We will continue to assess the service we are providing people and welcome any ideas on how better to improve our visibility in the village whether it is through surgeries or use of the mobile police station.”