City of Derry Airport may be at 'severe financial risk'

A funding request for the airport was was sent to the NI Executive in May but council say no progress has been made

City of Derry Airport could become a "severe financial risk" within months, Derry City and Strabane District Council has warned.

That is if funding cannot be secured from Stormont, officials have said.

A request for money was sent to the NI Executive in a business case in May, but so far the council has said no money has been agreed.

Council has requested £15m, spread over six years, to help maintain the commercial viability of the airport.

A report given to councillors pointed out that this £15m would bring a potential saving of £3.5m per year for the council, which owns the airport.

The facility is managed at a cost of £3.4m per year to ratepayers.

The council's chief executive John Kelpie has said that if funding is not guaranteed from the executive then other capital projects may be affected.

"If we don't get a decision on this in the next few months, then delivery of capital projects is severely at risk and we won't be able to develop that funding strategy," Mr Kelpie said on Tuesday.

• Fears for future of City of Derry Airport

• Council seeks £15m airport funds from UK government

• Nearly £6m needed to keep airport open

SDLP councillor John Boyle said there is "a very long list of capital projects that would need to be sifted through and perhaps prioritised" if the financing is not secured.

"We have two significant leisure centre developments, one at Templemore and one in Strabane town centre, that we have great ambitions for and they sit at the top of that list," Mr Boyle said.

"Going down through the list you can extend that down into play parks, community centres, greenways and all matter of things, but that is the kind of stuff we are talking about."

City of Derry Airport is owned by Derry City and Strabane District Council

A meeting of council's governance and strategic planning committee on Tuesday heard that the business case was sent to Stormont eight months ago to "secure the the continued sustainability of the airport".

BBC Radio Foyle has learned that Finance Minister Conor Murphy has not received any funding proposals for the airport as of yet, but did met with Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon on Wednesday to discuss the airport.

Councillors also criticised a lack of response from Economy Minister Gordon Lyons. However, the Department for Economy have said that they do not have the legal power to fund airports.

In a statement, the Departments for Finance and Infrastructure said that both ministers recognised the strategic importance of City of Derry Airport to the north west.

"Department for Infrastructure officials will continue to work with Department of Finance officials on assessing the business case," the joint statement read.

Meetings have taken place, and the council has been told that both ministers have agreed to meet the council again, with a date yet to be decided upon.

'Grave concerns'

However, John Kelpie said he still had some concerns.

"We are encouraged by the support that we have received from all of the ministers, but we most definitely are concerned that eight months since submission for the business case we have received no positive outcome," he added.

"We have reflected on the complexities of working through business cases with government departments, we also do not have any written questions in respect of that business case and that is a matter of grave concern."

Ulster Unionist councillor Ryan McCready was highly critical of the executive response so far in relation to the airport.

"It infuriates me that we at council can do everything we can do , but once it is outside of our remit in the assembly then no action is being taken," he said.

Council officials have said that if they did not see progress by the end of this financial year on the airport then they would need to draw on reserve funding.