Swann seeks speedy release of St Patrick’s homes

Assemblyman Swann issued his appeal after he was informed that the first 14 houses have been allocated.

Mr Swann said: “This is fantastic news after such a long delay in the process. This is a much-needed development, but both the Office of First and Deputy First Minister and the Department of Social Development need to keep momentum going to sort out the rest of the site.

“Earlier in my campaign to get this social housing released, I asked the First and Deputy First Minister pursuant to detail the reasons for the delay in finalising the business case and the expected date when the business case will be completed and the expected date of transfer of assets to the Department of Social Development.

“This also prompted me to ask the Minister for Social Development why there has been this delay in transferring the housing on the St Patrick’s Barracks site, Ballymena, to the Housing Executive.

“Now that this transfer has taken place, the site has been made available to Fold Housing Association, which had already been appointed to develop it for social housing.

“Let us hope the various Executive departments can get their acts together sooner rather than later and this important and much-needed social housing project can progress as soon as possible,” said Assemblyman Swann.