Other News In Brief

Appeal For Information On L'Derry Petrol Bomb Attack

The PSNI have issued an appeal for information and witnesses after a report a car was petrol bombed in Arran Court in Creggan last night, Thursday 17 August.

The report was made to police at around 10.50pm. The car sustained damage, but fortunately no one was injured. Police are appealing to anyone who was in the area and witnessed what happened, or has information which could assist the investigation to call 101, quoting reference 2148 of 17/08/23.

A report to police can also be submitted online using the non-emergency reporting form via www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/ or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org/

Alliance Raise Concerns Of Potential Sale Of Craigowen Lodge

Alliance has raised concerns after a historic building in North Down, which has lay in a dilapidated state for a number of years, has been put on the market by its owners.

Craigowen Lodge in Bangor was designed by Thomas Turner, a pupil of Sir Charles Lanyon. A tin roof is now in place after an earlier arson attempt and fire. It was originally purchased for a roads widening project which never occurred.

Attempts to get the property passed to the Hearth Historic Buildings Trust charity with a view to rescuing the building and proceeding with a restoration of the listed building in 2011 failed. Since then, a planning application was approved in 2017 but no works have commenced and the approval has now expired. The building is presently owned by Clanmil Housing Association.

North Down MLA Andrew Muir said: "I have been campaigning to save Craigowen Lodge for well over a decade, pushing hard for action ever since I became a Councillor back in 2010.

"Progress has been sadly slow and hopes raised but then dashed when purchase and planning approval was gained but restoration works failed to commence. Having been inside the building last year, it was clear Craigowen Lodge is in a sorry state – boarded up, with a tin roof and increasingly dilapidated conditions internally, I worry it could soon be gone for good if works don't quickly commence to restore the listed building.

"I am conscious a key impediment to securing restoration has been the costs involved and shortage of grant funding. Therefore I lobbied the Charity Commission to give approval to transfer the building at a lower cost, taking into account the conservation deficit. Transfer would have occurred to a local charity specialising in saving listed building but I am now informed this is not an immediate option and an attempt must be made to conduct sale on the open market.

"Real worries now exist the historic Gate Lodge could be snapped up and left to go to into complete ruin, facing a similar fate so many beautiful listed buildings have faced, involving collapse and demolition with part of our past then lost forever. I am therefore urging current owners Clanmil to place a condition of sale upon the transaction that planning is obtained and substantive works commence before it's handed over. We cannot let Craigowen Lodge wither, decline and decay any longer."

SF Renew Call For Urgent Restoration Of Executive

Sinn Féin have renewed their call for the urgent restoration of a "properly resourced, power sharing Executive to stand up for workers, families and public services".

Making the call, South Antrim MLA Declan Kearney said: "Tory policy has turned the north into an economic and political backwater. Low wages and precarious work are structural characteristics of the north's economy. These realities sit alongside chronic underinvestment in public services due to the decisions of successive British governments.

"The Tory austerity agenda is crippling public services which are currently failing to meet the needs of citizens. The latest round of imposed expenditure cuts will have a devastating effect upon regional services, especially for the most vulnerable. Senior civil servants are forecasting irreparable damage to the viability of health, education provision, and maintenance of infrastructure.

"Brexit showed how little the Tories care about anyone here. Those in charge have no affinity with, or commitment to the peace and political processes in the north. Their only allegiance is to profit, and an economic model serving the interests of big businesses and banks, and the most wealthy.

"Workers are facing into a whole series of challenges. Increased interest rates and high inflation are creating unbearable financial pressures.

"The DUP's blocking of the Executive means there is no mitigation against this Tory onslaught.

"The absence of a functioning Executive has exposed public services and working families to even more ruthless cuts, and privatisation by stealth.

"At the same time, as greater austerity is imposed, new anti-trade union legislation from London will restrict local trade unionists' right to strike and will take powers to actually sack striking workers.

"Sinn Féin has prioritised the introduction of workers' rights legislation and called for the transfer of fiscal powers to the north. The persistent refusal of any British government to transfer economic and fiscal levers is untenable.

"Unless an Executive, and a strategic financial investment package are in place by September, another imposed austerity budget will become inevitable, with even more terrible repercussions.

"We urgently need a properly resourced power sharing Executive to stand up for workers, families and public services. Sinn Féin is committed to leading that Executive with others."