Mid-Ulster Ulster Unionist MLA Sandra Overend and local Cookstown Councillor Trevor Wilson have expressed their disappointment that the Northern Ireland Community Safety College at Desertcreat has been put on hold, following a decision by the programme team that the preferred bidder could not deliver the project within budget.

Mrs Overend said: 

“The news that the Desertcreat project has again been put on hold is deeply disappointing for the local construction sector, the Cookstown area and wider Mid-Ulster economy. In the last few weeks doubts have been surfacing about the preferred bidder’s ability to carry out the work at the price agreed, prompting me to table an urgent oral question to the Justice Minister to clarify the situation.

“The Justice Minister told me he was committed to the siting of the college at Desertcreat on the floor of the Assembly, and this was reaffirmed by the programme team just under a fortnight ago when they were questioned at a joint meeting of the Enterprise and Justice Committees at Stormont. 

“Questions must now be asked in terms of when is the project going to go ahead, what form will any retendering process take, and how much more will this now cost the taxpayer? Lessons must be learned, and any further delays need to be avoided.Weare seeking urgent meetings to find a way forward. 

Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party group on Cookstown Council, Councillor Trevor Wilson said: 

“It appears that this whole process has been flawed from day one- it has lurched from one crisis to another.  Local people are losing faith that the project will ever get off the ground. 

“The Northern Ireland Community Safety College project is essential to the local economy, not just in Cookstown and Mid-Ulster but much further afield.  We must get a swift resolution, so this new and much-needed facility can be built as soon as possible.”