Meenan Square regeneration plan gets green light

The developers say work is expected to start next spring

Plans to redevelop a site in Londonderry's Bogside – where a controversial bonfire has been lit in recent years – have been approved by councillors in the city.

Permission was granted for the mixed-use regeneration scheme at Meenan Square which includes a community hub as well as retail and commercial units at a meeting on Wednesday.

It is the first of two applications put forward by Apex Housing for an overall £11m redevelopment of the site.

SDLP councillor John Boyle, who chairs Derry City and Strabane District Council's planning committee, said the approval "marks a hugely positive milestone for this area and for our city as a whole".

"This transformational project will bring much-needed facilities, employment opportunities and investment to a site that has long been in need of regeneration," Boyle said.

First mooted more than a decade ago, Meenan Square's redevelopment is being delivered by the Executive Office's Urban Villages Initiative, Apex and Meenan Square Developments Ltd.

That Executive Office initiative is designed to help areas develop where there has previously been a history of deprivation or community tension.

'A landmark day'

In a statement, First Minister Michelle O'Neill described it as "a landmark day for the city of Derry".

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said it showed "what can be achieved when government, housing providers and communities work together".

Apex Housing chief executive Sheena McCallion said the project would serve the area "for generations to come".

Bonfire material has been stored at the site in the early summer months of recent years

Charles Lamberton is the chairperson of Meenan Square Developments, the company behind the project.

He told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme it would "put the heart" back into the Bogside.

"That sight is probably iconic in that it's the first thing you see as you come down the Lecky Road flyover and to be lying in the state that it has been for close to 25,30 years," he said.

"It will be game-changing for that area but, most importantly, the people who live round it and have had to endure that, not only over summer months in recent years but for many, many years."

Site has become an 'eyesore'

Gary Dodds of planning agents Turley told the committee on Wednesday the redevelopment of Meenan Square would be a "multimillion pound transformational project," adding that work should start on site in the spring of 2026 and take two years to complete.

When all phases to the redevelopment are complete the site will house community services, housing, retail, office and commercial space.

SDLP MP Colum Eastwood said the site had become an "eyesore" adding the green light for its redevelopment is a "good news story for Derry".

"While there have been a number of false starts on this project, I hope that this can be the beginning of a process that sees sustained investment in the people, places and groups that make this a great part of Derry," Eastwood said.

Sinn Féin MLA Pádraig Delargy said the development will "totally change this site".

"Building Meenan Square is building a better future for everyone in our area," Delargy added.

The last remaining buildings on the site, including the Bogside Inn, were demolished in 2021.

Meenan Square has since been used as the site for a bonfire lit in the city each August.

That bonfire has attracted some criticism in recent years.

In the run up to the bonfire in each of the last two years, Apex Housing said it could not find a contractor willing to remove bonfire material from the site.