A new report has been demanded into what exactly is going on at a site in Derry where 4,000 new homes were first proposed 14 years ago.
Plans for the H2 site on the Buncrana Road first came before the local council in 2002, which envisioned also envisaged a school and shops to be constructed on the 290 acre site.
However, those plans are now in doubt after it was revealed earlier this year that a number of developers involved in the land are no longer in business.
It emerged in January that the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), the so-called ‘bad bank’, is among the 20 separate parties who own the land, a number of whom are not known to the local planning authority, which is Derry City and Strabane District Council.
A meeting of the council’s planning committee at the time was told a number of those involved in the development had gone bankrupt.
The issue was raised again during a discussion at this week’s meeting of the Council’s Planning Committee on new measures aimed at dealing with planning applications which have seen little or no movement in recent years.
Speaking at the meeting, Sinn Fein Cllr Tony Hassan said he was still yet to receive an update on the site despite having asked for clarification on the matter from planners ten months ago.
He added a number of developers were now ‘looking to get onto the site’, but said that a ‘full report’ was now needed on where the site’s developers are, whether or not they have gone bankrupt, and how new developers could now take over.
“I do believe the developers are gone, but we need clarification,” he said, before adding that three separate housing associations were interested in buying sections of the site.
The report is to be brought before a future meeting of the planning committee.
Above is an aerial graphic of how the Buncrana Road development will look.
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