Outstanding marine consents holding up €11.77 million project in Lifford

Delays in providing a Foreshore Licence from the Department of the Marine and a Marine Licence from Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affair’s Marine and Fisheries Division are holding up progress on the €11.77 million the Lifford-Strabane Riverine Project.

The news was greeted with some dismay at Monday’s Lifford-Stranorlar Municipal District meeting. The project is recognised as a key community regeneration project for the areas creating a new community park that is expected to positively transform the physical and social character of both towns and their wider hinterlands.

The money for this project came from the Special European Union Programmes Body (SEUPB) under the EU Peace IV Programme with the construction of the park due to be completed last December. Due to the length of time it has taken to acquire the necessary statutory consents it is not possible to deliver the project within the current funding window.

Donegal County Council and Derry City and Strabane District Council have confirmed their commitment to delivering this project and have agreed to develop an application to be submitted under the SEUPB PeacePlus Programme to ensure it goes ahead.

Councillors were told that the current status of the statutory consents are: Planning Consent Lifford was received on February 15 2023; Planning Consent Strabane was received in November 2023 and the Foreshore Licence (ROI) was expected January 2024 and the Marine Licence (NI) expected sometime this year.

Cllr Gary Doherty (above) said he wanted to know who decided on the granting of the licences. “Both councils should be naming and shaming those departments and putting pressure on them publicly to move more quickly on granting these licences. We are all supportive of the Riverine Project in both councils as is the community, Everybody wants to see it happening.”

He added he had attended a meeting last week with the chairman of the EU Regional Development Commission who pledged his support for the project and said he would raise the matter with the Commissioner to try and get an extension of the original funding deadline.

“But there’s no point us going to Europe or the Government in Dublin or anywhere else and having meetings about Riverine if other statutory bodies are holding the whole project up. I see one of the marine licences is expected from the northern side but the Foreshore Licence on the southern side isn’t expected until January 2024. To me, that is completely unacceptable. It shouldn't take that long for a statutory to decide whether a project is viable or not,” he said.

Donna Callaghan from the council’s planning section said she would raise the concerns mentioned with the council’s regeneration team to see if it could put any pressure on either department and report back to the MD.

“The process does take a bit of time in terms of the documentation and it si a process that they have to go through,” she added.