North Coast 'eyesores' plan for Open

Published Tuesday, 28 February 2012

Environment Minister Alex Attwood says he may free up government money to improve the appearance of derelict buildings in the Portrush and Portstewart area, ahead of the Irish Open.

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It comes as a motion is set to go before the Assembly to give local councils across Northern Ireland powers to make such sites safe.

Mr Attwood said the Executive needs to step in and deal with the issue of "nuisance eyesores and dilapidation" on the North Coast, where the Irish Open will take place this summer.

"What I am looking at is seeing if I can release money for the area of Portrush and Portstewart in advance of the Irish Open to clean up derelict areas," Mr Attwood told UTV.

"I think there is an issue given that there is a lot of derelict land and undeveloped sites arising from the property crash.

"There is a need in the long term to give more powers to local councils to deal with sites where there is currently no structure, as outside Belfast there appears to be a legislative gap."

The SDLP minister also wants developers to "take responsibility" for derelict sites before setting about work on new ones.

He continued: "I know there are developers seeking planning permission and yet a different part of the same town are leaving sites to go to wreck and ruin and I want those developers to take responsibility."

Comments

3 Comments

just another poster in N'abbey wrote (445 days ago):

I live on Church Rd in N'abbey. It used to be a beautiful road with a mixture of houses, small and large. Unfortunately the developers moved in and bought up a lot of the big, old houses. Of course the property market faltered so the houses have been left to wreak and ruin. The scum came along and smashed windows, set some on fire and the land lords did little or nothing. The houses look terrible, vandalised and with horrendous boarding and grills the developers put up AFTER the damage was done. This has went from being being a road full of character to an area that looks neglected and run down. It's about time that the law was changed to force greedy developers to maintain the properties and grounds. Why should the rest of us suffer because of their greed.

Eamonn Andrews in Belfast Falls Road/Ross Road Area. wrote (445 days ago):

I would like to know what alex attwood has planned for the waste ground that was left behind, after the flats in ross rd were demolished,the area in question is a play ground for joy riding and other antisocial behaviour. but then maybe the people of portrush are better than the people from the area in question, Ross Rd.i think money for the rich and famous is typical of any goverment.let the people of the ghettos wait, while they build golf coarses and spend more money in the same area to make the place look nicer. its a joke that all this money for a golf coarse while people are living in areas that need housing etc. he should resign. and i also think the other parties should be taking up this issue, instead of just turning a blind eye to it. shame on all parties that are siding with this decision.

norman.d in bangor wrote (445 days ago):

portrush is an eyesore and so is bangor sea front for any tourist to look at and this executive can spend millions on sports stadiums while are seaside resorts crumble down and they talk about attracting tourists here then invest in our resorts