North west region motion falls

Sinn Féin brought a motion to the assembly on 3 November 2009 calling for the north west region of Northern Ireland to be declared an area of special economic need.

It asked the assembly to recognise the impact which the economic recession has had on the area and urged the minister of enterprise, trade and investment, and minister for employment and learning, to take new and innovative measures to mitigate the economic crisis in the region.

Moving the motion, Martina Anderson emphasised the statistics describing the relative poverty of areas of the north west, particularly Londonderry.

Both the DUP's Gregory Campbell and UUP's Leslie Cree opposed the motion. Mr Campbell said that while, in the past, he had put pressure on Invest NI to bring inward investment to Londonderry, it was not possible to force private companies to choose a specific area to invest in.

Mr Cree drew attention to the ongoing investment in north west projects including the A5 corridor, the growth of the University of Ulster's Magee campus and the public transport sector.

The Alliance's Sean Neeson agreed with the UUP and the DUP that it would be a disservice to the north west to declare it an area of special economic interest, and would also be discriminatory to other areas such as west Belfast.

The motion fell.