Campaign group vows to fight on as college legal bid fails

The group had challenged an Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council decision to grant planning permission for a new campus of the Southern regional College at Craigavon City Park, close to the new leisure centre.

In a Facebook post on Monday the group said: “We are disappointed to have to tell you that the Judicial Review did not go in our favour. We have just this afternoon received the judgement and will need some time to go through it and report back to you.

“Our legal team have advised we can appeal the decision and that is exactly what we intend to do.

“This is not over. SRC does not belong in our park and we will continue to do everything we can to stop it.

“Time for us all to come together and move onto stage two of the legal battle.

“Please keep your chins up. This is only a setback. Had we won, council could have appealed anyway.

“Council, in its current financial position cannot afford to keep throwing money at this and the longer SRC continues to pursue our park, the more expensive their build will become and there isn’t a big pot at Stormont to accommodate them.

“We have MLA elections in May. No support / No vote.

“Climate Change Legislation is on its way.

“We have the support of our community and we haven’t backed down since we found out what was planned.

“Don’t forget, Council are bidding for City of Culture and this discontent is not a great advert for ABC Council. The lakes are a cultural landmark in this area and we have a right to protect them.

“We need to increase our Facebook following again. We need to be reaching a much larger audience to fight for as the numbers using the park have increased significantly.

“We didn’t spend our down time sitting on our hands, we have a few things on the back boiler. We are not the only group in a legal battle with this Council.

“We are all in this for the long haul.

“We are not going away!”

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