Walkabout will highlight disparity of investment

COUNCILLORS hailing from Derry City have agreed to take part in a walking tour of Strabane and Castlederg so that they appreciate for themselves that these areas are subject to disproportionate funding.

The invitation, included in a motion presented at a recent meeting of council, was proposed by Strabane councillor, Raymond Barr. He says the walkabout would open up dialogue between local representatives and those from the city.

Cllr Barr’s motion reads: “I would like to request the chief executive organise a walking tour of Strabane and Castlederg to allow, in particular, the Derry City based councillors and Aldermen to view and form their own opinions on whether areas within the council district such as these are subject to disproportionate funding from within council compared to Derry City.”

He previously said he presented the motion as Strabane has suffered decades of under-investment.

Supporting the motion, Alliance Waterside councillor, Philip McKinney admitted that while it is not intentional, “the focus does appear to be on our beautiful city.”

Strabane councillor, Paul Gallagher added, “It’s right that the ratepayers are saying, ‘where are the resources going in this area?’”

Summing up, Raymond Barr commented, “We are still light years behind most of the towns in the six counties and we pay higher rates than most. In 2019 we had the highest rates increase in the six counties.

“I walked from the Peace Bridge to Sainsbury’s recently and I stopped counting the floral displays after 100. You can count them on one hand in Strabane…

“Come and have a look at what we’ve got or more to the point what we haven’t got. We are fed up scrapping for the crumbs from the table.”

The motion was passed unanimously although it has not yet been decided when the walkabout will take place.