Council secures £9 million in Levelling Up funding for Maghera regeneration

Maghera is set to benefit from £9 million Levelling Up funding to support economic growth and drive regeneration in the town.

Under the investment, Maghera is set to benefit from extensive public realm improvements. The much-needed public realm scheme will transform the look of the town centre with new paving, street lighting, planting and street furniture, and address substandard footpath widths, poor pedestrian access and traffic flow issues.

The scheme extends the length of Main Street, taking in parts of Coleraine Road, Station Road, Meeting House Avenue, Tirkane Road, Church Street, Glen Road, Hall Street, Bank Square and St Lurach’s Road.

Other elements in the project will go towards boosting outdoor recreation and biodiversity through the creation of a new wetlands park, and the revitalisation of local business through the proposed creation of a new business park at the former High School site, which remains earmarked by the Council to address a gap in the availability of land locally for light industrial use and to meet an identified demand from local businesses.

Chair of Mid Ulster District Council, Councillor Córa Corry welcomed the investment in Mid Ulster.

“This is fantastic news for Maghera and its surrounding area. Public realm schemes deliver significant physical and intrinsic benefits to our town and city centres, making them more accessible, vibrant and welcoming places to be for residents and visitors alike. As well as providing new green space and outdoor recreational opportunities for the local population, this investment in what has been a historically overlooked area will create jobs and economic growth. Even before the current cost of living crisis, there has been a significant need and demand from local businesses to invest in Maghera, to improve the average wage profile to help deliver higher paid jobs for its growing younger population,” said Cllr Corry.

“The completion of the public realm and wider regeneration project will be a vital factor in attracting new inward investment into the area, as well as retaining existing firms who will have the opportunity to increase their scale of production and compete in new markets.”

Speaking to the County Derry Post this afternoon, Sinn Féin councillor, Brian McGuigan (pictured below) has welcomed news of the £9 million investment for Maghera.

“This is great news for the people of Maghera and neighbouring areas. I am very pleased to have led demands for much needed public realm works within the town, local employment creation via the provision of a modern business park as well as much needed outdoor recreational space. The focus of our Sinn Féin council team has been to provide the required infrastructure and services for workers and families, tackling years of under investment and historic discrimination,” said Cllr McGuigan.
“Truly "levelling up" the North’s distorted economy will mean learning from past mistakes, breaking with approaches that merely tinker around the edges and confronting the uneven distribution of wealth and power by successive British governments and the Tory policy of austerity, when establishing a new constitutional future for all the people of Ireland.
“Now is the time for the important role out of plans by Mid-Ulster Council for a new economic model - Community Wealth Building, addressing the need for democratic ownership of our economy as well as playing our part in tackling the climate and energy emergencies.
“I look forward to the delivery of this much needed investment.”
The project is one of a total of ten projects across the 11 council areas here that will share £71 million of funding from round two of the flagship Levelling Up Fund, allocated by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

£5.1 million has also been allocated to modernise 20 rugby clubs, including Coleraine and Limavady, including new female changing rooms.