Castlederg leisure centre oil spill repair bill spirals to £170,000

THE costs of investigating and remediating damage caused to Castlederg leisure centre by an oil leak have ballooned to £170,000 so far, We Are Tyrone can reveal.

As reported last month, the main sports hall at the Derg Valley Leisure Centre has not been accessible to users since the spring as council contractors conduct work at the site.

A document provided by Derry City and Strabane District Council through a Freedom of Information request provides a breakdown of the costs for the first two “phases of work”.

The first phase is projected to cost £120,695, with the second at £49,199 for a combined total of £169,894.

The single priciest piece of work carried out to date has been the “external excavation works to rear and side of hall” at a committed cost of £59,297.

According to the document, just under £38,300 has been paid up to now. Excavating an access road has proved to be the second-costliest item of work in the first phase at £25,700, which has been paid in full.

The “procurement of a specialist consultant” in the second phase of the works has a committed cost listed at £27,880.

A third phase of work is set to be carried out, but the document states that “future remediation/reinstatement not determinable at present,” which means the final cost is not known yet and will likely be well beyond the current £170,000 figure.

On the cause of the spill, a council spokesperson said, “The leak was traced back to a buried oil line with the council taking immediate action once this was detected.”

The issue of the leisure centre was raised at the council’s health and community committee on Thursday. Cllr Derek Hussey said, “I’m beginning to get some frustration locally with regard to the opening of Derg Valley.”

Fellow Derg councillor, Keith Kerrigan, also addressed the committee.

“The case that has been asked of me is about the main hall, in that there have been a number of groups looking to use the main hall. I think the steam rooms are also closed,” he said.

Cllr Kerrigan said he understood that all but one of the drilling holes in the sports hall had been filled.

He added, “It just seems to be quite a length of time since anything was done in it. Potentially we could be talking about September time since any work was taking place at it, so it’s just about seeing where the progress is.”

In response to the councillor’s concerns, Karen McFarland, the director of health and community at the council, said “technical studies” have been taking place.

She told the committee, “In the last couple of days, we have received the final version of those and we’re convening a meeting with the relevant internal council departments [and the contractors].

“We have sought clarity on the potential impact of reopening of the operations you have referred to, including the sports hall. We haven’t had a response back on that.”

Cllr Steven Edwards asked Ms McFarland if she could provide information on the cost of the work, but she replied they could not give the “final cost” until the technical group had met with the contractors.

Ms McFarland added that she hoped to be able to update councillors on the progress of the work in the “next week or so”.

Cllr Hussey encouraged council officers to work with “urgency” on the matter.

“There is a growing frustration. A lot of folks out there do not understand the hoops that have to be gone through, but let’s get through those hoops as quickly as possible and as safely as possible.”

The spokesperson for the council told the Tyrone Herald, “A full report on the results of the exploratory works are expected to come before elected members of the health and community committee early next year for review and consideration.”