Ebrington management transfer to Council step closer

The long-term ambition of The Executive Office (TEO) to hand the Ebrington site over to Derry City and Strabane District Council has moved a step closer.

Council’s position remains it is willing to discuss the possible transfer of the site as long as there are no cost implications for ratepayers here.

Following what a Council officer described as “open, honest discussions” with TEO officials in May 2025, to discuss the hand over, councillors approved the drafting of three proposed Ebrington related service level agreements (SLAs) with TEO at its Governance and Strategic Planning meeting on Tuesday.

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The SLAs relate to site cleaning and maintenance; site management and car parking; and events, animation and site promotion and will be brought to Council for approval in October 2025.

In the ‘Future Management Arrangements for Ebrington’ report which was presented at the meeting, councillors were told a previous attempt to quantify the running cost of Ebrington had proved to be “challenging to finalise given the extent of capital works and disposals being progressed by TEO, and developing arrangements with tenants around leases”.

The report said: “As a result, TEO continued to operate and develop the site with no agreed date or process for transfer of the Ebrington site to Council.

“As a result of a number of motions relating to the Ebrington site passed in Council in 2023, a process was agreed between TEO and Council regarding the organising of “large-scale licensed events in Ebrington Square. Council officers subsequently oversaw this process, on behalf of TEO, for 2024/2025/2026.

“TEO recognises the complexities of a full transfer, the difficulties in establishing the exact running costs of the site and the fact that, although the area surrounding the square is now largely developed, a large portion of the rear of the site remains under construction.

“Within this context and to move closer to this goal, it was agreed to consider three workstreams that the council could take control of delivering on behalf of TEO on a full cost recovery basis as follows: Site cleaning and maintenance (excluding any capital works); Site management and car parking (including associated liaison with tenants and users); and Events, site animation and promotion.”

The ‘Future Management Arrangements for Ebrington’ report reiterated any agreement would be on a “cost recovery basis to ensure no cost to ratepayers”.

Proposing the report, Waterside Sinn Féin councillor Christopher Jackson described the “saga” around Ebrington as “long-running”.

He said: “It was a vision I first heard Martin McGuinness outline when Ebrington was transferred from being a militarised, fortified base of occupying forces to something the people of this city would be proud of and take ownership of. I am delighted to see us some way on the journey of that vision being delivered.”

Seconding the report on behalf of the SDLP, Cllr Brian Tierney sounded a note of caution regarding what he said were “the complexities around the site”.

“Council’s position remains it is willing to discuss the possible transfer of the site within the context of a zero cost to ratepayers, that has to be fulfilled.”