cookstown police, fire and rescue training college

Construction work on a long-awaited police training college will finally begin next year, the NI Department of Justice has said.

The £140m college, was one of the police reforms recommended in the Patten report almost ten years ago.

A 210-acre site near Cookstown was selected almost seven years ago.

A draft budget proposal unveiled by the department on Tuesday said the Stormont executive has agreed to provide the final £30m for the project.

The new college will also offer training facilities for the fire and rescue service and prison officers.

If the draft budget is approved by the Executive, construction work is scheduled to begin in May next year, with the college due to open its doors in June 2014.