Faulty alarm reignites Riversdale debate

A ‘CHEMICAL exposure incident’ which caused an early morning evacuation of Riversdale on Wednesday, has sparked renewed calls for immediate action on a newbuild leisure facility for the town.

After an alarm was raised around 8am yesterday, fire service and ambulance units were dispatched to the scene.

Described as ‘an alert in the pool area’ by Derry City and Strabane District Council, the fire service confirmed that there was one casualty, who was treated at the scene, but no-one was taken to hospital.

“Firefighters were called to a chemical exposure incident,” a spokesperson for NIFRS said yesterday. “Firefighters administered first aid to one casualty, (who) was left in the care of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.

“Firefighters, wearing breathing apparatus, ventilated the building, and took gas readings, which came back normal. The incident was dealt with by 8.45am.”

“It may have been a false alarm this time – although that has yet to be fully determined – but what if it is something far worse the next time?” remarked independent councillor, Paul Gallagher.

“These alarms are in place to detect possible chemical leakages, which are extremely lethal in nature, and are not to be trifled with.

“That an alarm is being triggered in any capacity should only serve to highlight the ageing condition of the equipment and technology used in the pool.”

This week’s calls for a new leisure facility for the town come a full decade after a comprehensive report on Riversdale labelled the ageing building ‘no longer fit for purpose’.

Released prior to the Derry and Strabane council amalgamation, the damning report called for something to be done about the ageing building and facilities. Undertaken by consultants V4 Leisure and Strategic Leisure, the report laid out to the legacy Strabane District Council that Riversdale ‘will close itself’ unless a new facility was built.

Moreover, a feasibility study uncovered a lack of capacity, limited parking and a lack of disabled access.

At the time, Rachel Fowler of Strategic Leisure highlighted the building “was already beginning to crumble” while pointing out that “more was being spent just to keep the place open.”

Ten years on and no date has been set for any new build to take place.

“Only last year, there were times when the pool was closed due to malfunctioning equipment, something which council have clearly yet to resolve,” Cllr Gallagher continued. “What if the pool had been full of people and there was an widespread leak? It would have been a disaster. Is it going to take a matter of life and death before we get a new leisure centre? We have a duty to protect the public and staff who work in Riversdale.”

He added, “The reality is this; I urged council to ‘spend, spend, spend’ on a new centre years ago and they didn’t. Derry had no qualms on spending and now they have Foyle Arena, which has unfortunately saddled people in this town with that debt, but they spent it. If we need to borrow, then let’s borrow. Immediate action is needed before someone is hurt.”

Asked about the current status of a new leisure centre for the town is and if a corresponding timeframe was in place, a spokesperson for council said, “A new state of the art leisure centre for Strabane is the anchor project for the Strabane Town Centre master plan located on the Canal Basin development site, which is part of the wider City Deal £80m proposal. This development would replace the current Riversdale Leisure Centre.”

At the time of going to press, Riversdale’s pool remained closed.