Council to keep H2 plans on ‘life support’

A massive housing development planned for Derry is to be kept on ‘life support’ despite a number of the businesses involved in the plans having gone into administration.

Plans for the H2 site on the Buncrana Road first came before council in 2002, which envisioned 4,000 new homes, a school and shops being constructed on the 290 acre site.

However, those plans are now in doubt after it emerged that a number of developers involved in the land are no longer in business.

It’s now emerged that that 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.

The new information emerged a meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Planning Committee, after Sinn Fein Councillor Tony Hassan asked for an update on the progress being made at the site.

The matter had been due to be discussed in confidential business, but Cllr Hassan requested that the H2 report be discussed in public.

The City Solicitor, Philip Kingston, asked Cllr Hassan if he could be allowed to review the report as it contained ‘commercially sensitive’ information, with councillors then agreeing to bring the report out of confidential business after some information was redacted from the report.

Proinsias McCaughey, principal planning officer, said progress on the development had slowed due to the property crash, deaths and a number of those involved in the development going bankrupt.

He added further difficulties were presented by there being 20 different landowners on the site, including NAMA, and that a number of those were not known to council.

Describing the development as ‘being on life support’ Mr McCaughey continued that one option was to ‘put it out of its misery’.

However, he added the H2 site was ‘still a live application’ with an active agent, and that recommendation to council was to continue to liaise with the agent ‘at least for a short while’.

“We would have to start again and re-negotiate the masterplan, which would be a pity given we are so far down the line,” he said.

The recommendation was accepted.