Residents and groups in Strathfoyle have created a powerful video pleading with NI government departments to come together to fund the long awaited greenway extension to Strathfoyle.
It is now eight years since the project was green lighted and since then Council has secured the various parcels of land necessary to facilitate the new walking and cycle route, which would link Strathfoyle to the city centre and Waterside greenway network.
Residents in Strathfoyle have spoken of the massive difference the long-awaited greenway will make to the lives of local people.
Local people of all ages, and representatives from community-based groups in the Strathfoyle and Maydown areas came together to create the video for the project, which is ready to proceed once the money arrives, Derry City & Strabane District Council (DCSDC) confirmed this week.
In the video Paul Hughes from Enagh Youth Forum said: “The Strathfoyle Greenway is a 2.7km extension of the Waterside Greenway from Foyle Bridge to Stradowen Drive. It is on the Council’s capital list of projects and is listed on the Strategic Growth Plan.
“Local people in the community have been campaigning for this project since 2012, when it first secured planning permission and the steering group meet regularly to progress it. Over recent years DCSDC has worked hard to secure and purchase all of the lands required for this project.
“What the project now urgently needs is funding to make it happen and the local community, and people right across the city and North West, are asking the Departments of Infrastructure (DfI), Communities (DfC) and Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) to now work together in the spirit of ‘New Decade, New Approach’ to fund the Strathfoyle Greenway.”
Alex Duffy, chair of Strathfoyle Community Association, said the project was vital. “My own view is that mental health is going to take a downward spiral because of the lockdown, anxiety, depression so now more than ever it is important.”