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Your City! Developing the vision updates

Regeneration Plan "an unprecedented opportunity"

Story added 28 October 2009

One of Northern Ireland's foremost economists has described Derry's Regeneration Plan as the best chance in a generation to deal with the city's social and economic problems. Neil Gibson, Director of Regional Services with Oxford Economics, believes that it offers the city an unprecedented opportunity for the city to revitalise itself.

"The Regeneration Plan is as good an opportunity as the city has had, or will have for a long time, to address its problems of economic and social deprivation. Everyone is round the table discussing and debating what a regeneration vision should look like and there is an acceptance of the challenges facing the area" he said.

One of the greatest challenges is to bring real economic benefit to as many of the city's people, something Gibson recognises as a major challenge. "The level of economic disadvantage in parts of the city is amongst the worst in western Europe. For the plan to succeed it must find innovative, inclusive and effective ways of engaging local people and bringing them into the economic solution rather than seeing development occur around them and pass their community by".

The current world financial has seen government tighten the purse strings, the public services boom era is over for the foreseeable future and construction and retailing cannot lead growth. Gibson admits that this will require a new mindset when attempting to attract investment to the city.

"One of the key elements of the Regeneration Plan is going to be adapting itself to a different world where public finances are more restricted and where the NI Executive has less revenue to put into public works. That means a challenge in terms of articulating the plan to show the Executive that Derry can provide more return than has previously been the case.

The city is going to have to think beyond the traditional source of funding such as the Executive or central government. There are pension funds and other corporate investors out there who will be looking for investment opportunities that will provide a safe return over 10, 20 or 30 years and infrastructure developments might be the type of opportunity that they would be interested in" he said.

The North West has been hit particularly hard during the recent downturn and while the outlook can appear bleak Gibson insists that it has characteristics that make it an attractive proposition for potential investors.

"It's very easy when you are inward looking to become wrapped up in problem. But while it would be a mistake to sugar coat the effect that the recession is having, and will continue to have on Derry, the city does have assets that other areas do not have. It has a young population. It has a university. It has an attractive waterfront. It has a vibrant and engaged community and there is land available for development within the city centre, these are resources that many other areas would love to have".

For further information contact michael.gallagher@ilex-urc.com

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