Derry city and Strabane district council has been urged to take urgent action to secure its former Lisnagelvin leisure centre after a fire broke out at the premises on Thursday.
Fire services were called to the centre at Richill Park adjacent to Waterside police station on Thursday afternoon.
The blaze caused widespread traffic disruption in particular around the busy Lisnagelvin shopping centre.
Once one of Derry’s key leisure and sports centres, the facility closed approximately 10 years ago in advance of the opening of the new Foyle Arena.
Last year, the centre and huge adjoining site was put up for sale and in January it was announced that a preferred bidder had been identified for the development of the site. It is understood that the sale process was ongoing.
Ulster Unionist councillor Darren Guy said it was important that the council act immediately to make the vacant building secure.
“Only yesterday (Wednesday) I was in touch with the council because local people had been on to me about young people – some as young as nine years old – going into the building through a number of access points.
“I had asked the council officials to make a point of boarding up those access points to avoid something like this happening,” Mr Guy said.
The councillor, who visited the scene, said the problems created by young people accessing the centre had increased in recent weeks because of the school holidays.
