Coleraine Urban Villages Request Linked To £5m Vision

A request for Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council to engage with The Executive Office over the possible extension of the Urban Villages Programme to Coleraine is due to come before the Leisure and Development Committee.

The correspondence, submitted on behalf of the Harry Gregg Foundation, asks the council to explore whether Coleraine could be included in the programme, with particular focus on Coleraine Central and Cross Glebe.

In the correspondence, the foundation says both areas reflect the type of challenges the programme was designed to address, including socio-economic deprivation, entrenched disadvantage and periodic social unrest. It is also asking the council to open discussions with the Executive Office, assess deprivation, regeneration and good relations data, and consider working alongside the organisation to support the case for inclusion.

Attached to the correspondence is a Strategic Outline Case Summary for a proposed £5 million sports and community facility at The Crescent in Coleraine. The summary sets out plans for a shared campus featuring indoor and outdoor sports provision, a boxing club, children’s soft play and café facilities, and a hospitality education centre to be developed in partnership with Northern Regional College.

According to the Strategic Outline Case Summary, the proposed development is intended to serve communities in Cross Glebe and Coleraine Central, which the document describes as among the most deprived areas in Northern Ireland. The summary also states that the Urban Villages designation would be a key milestone in progressing the project.