Five-point economic rescue plan proposed
Council.
After an emergency meeting held in the wake of over 200 job losses in Dungiven - bringing the total redundancies in the Roe Valley area to around 1,500 in ten years - Limavady’s councillors put together five specific, concrete proposals to take to the Northern Ireland
Assembly.
Their plan of action became more pertinent still following the announcement of more than 300 further job losses yesterday morning. It was announced yesterday that the DVA offices in Coleraine, where large numbers of Limavady residents are employed, is to close.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe proposals by Limavady Borough Council, drawn up in the aftermath of the KPL job losses, include: progress on the relocation of hundreds of civil service jobs to Ballykelly; the wider redevelopment of the former army base in Ballykelly with a focus on jobs; the Limavady Borough to become an ‘enterprise zone’ with more favourable business conditions; a bypass around Dungiven; and the quick re-tendering of contracts held by KPL with a ‘social clause’ to ensure workers recently made redundant are ‘utilised’.
SDLP Councillor Michael Coyle said: “There is very little council can do directly and I don’t know how much the Assembly can do but it is certainly a lot more than what we can do as a local council.
“I think we have a duty to try and do something in the long term. In my personal view we need to ensure the small and medium businesses will still be here in five years and in ten years.”