The appointment of consultants tasked with progressing the development of Newcastle leisure centre appears imminent.
At Monday’s monthly council meeting, Active and Healthy Communities (AHC) director Andy Patterson confirmed that he will be tabling a report recommending this course of action at the next scheduled session of his directorate’s committee on 20 October.
Mr Patterson said that the appointment of a consultancy team would “show real progress and get us into planning essentially for the development of the site.”
Last month, the AHC Committee was presented with a report that detailed “the development of the Newcastle Centre as the preferred site for redevelopment into a modern leisure complex.”
On Monday, Willie Clarke (Sinn Féin) said, “I cannot tolerate any more delays, because the people of Newcastle are sick to the back teeth of delays.
The local representative added that most DEA councillors “support the preferred location” and that not appointing consultants now would “set the project back by at least five years.” He continued: “If we appoint the consultants, then we move on to the stage of consulting with the community. Again, there is misinformation being put out there in regards to the designs agreed and that the people of Newcastle haven’t been consulted. They have been consulted for decades, and we have delivered nothing. Now is the time to deliver for the people of Newcastle moving forward.”
Cllr Clarke proposed that the council progress with the redevelopment of the Newcastle Centre, and this was seconded by Glyn Hanna (DUP). Cllr Hanna said: “The Newcastle Centre is basically the only spot in Newcastle that is prominent. It is not a massive site, but I believe the consultants or the designers of it can put a good project together.”
Laura Devlin (SDLP) stressed that she “wants to get things moving” as “we have been around far, far too long with this in the background.” She said: “For the first time in a long while, we have momentum, we have a budget to get going, and I think we need to push on ahead with it.”
Mr Patterson said, “I will be bringing a report back through the AHC Committee later this month, to table it in front of members for the appointment of that consultancy team.
“I will also bring information back to the DEA councillors. The proposal will be to appoint the consultancy team to progress the project on the Newcastle Centre site, just to be very clear.”
The council gave its unanimous support to pursuing this course of action.
The full story includes comments from the councillors who contributed at the meeting.
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