Plans for £8m complex

Derry City council have now applied for the “replacement and relocation of a multi-purpose, sports leisure facility including community, cultural and assembly use” at St Columb’s Park.

The new North West Regional Sports Campus (NWRSC) will cost the local authority a £4.9m capital contribution

It has been estimated the NWRSC will cost roughly £8m to complete though not all of the funding has yet been ringfenced.

According to the Council a contribution of £1,700,000 from Sports NI has been “confirmed ‘in principle.’”

Equally, £2m from DSD pends an application. The exact total cost is estimated at £7,374,690

The plans - if they come to fruition - will revolutionise sports provision in the Waterside.

The new complex will comprise a mountaineering hall and halls for judo, wrestling and multi-purpose use together with a fitness suite, strength and conditioning suite, changing accommodation, coach education spaces, offices and ancillary accommodation.

Remarkably, there will also be facilities for high performance coaching, drug testing and first aid, video analysis, hydrotherapy, officials and elite changing and physiotherpay.

Outside two floodlit synthetic five-a-side pitches will be provided together with additional car parking.

In March the Council promised plans to radically transform sports and leisure provision in the Waterside - including a proposal to replace Lisnagelvin swimming pool with a new facility in St Columb’s Park - would only take place following a full consultation programme.