The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) has raised serious concerns over the sale of the former Shackleton Barracks military base in Co L'Derry.

Leader of the party, Mike Nesbitt MLA, said while the sale of site may have represented a bargain for the MGM Group, he raised concerns as to why the publicly owned site was sold for such a knocked-down price.

The 621 acre Executive Office owned site was sold earlier this year for £1 million.

Mr Nesbitt said: "Given agricultural land in Northern Ireland regularly sells in excess of £8,000 per acre, selling over 620 acres for only £1m represents a potential loss to the Northern Ireland Executive of £4m.

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"Whilst I understand that not all the land on the site was agricultural, the site included a significant array of buildings including offices, workshops and hangars. These also inevitably carried their own financial value so they should have further added to the final price received.

"The Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister previously stated that there was very significant interest in the site amongst potential purchasers and therefore I simply cannot comprehend why such a large site, with such a vast array of opportunities, was sold for such a low price.

"I will be referring the sale to the Public Accounts Committee at Stormont and the Northern Ireland Audit Office in the hope that they investigate whether this sale represented value for the public purse."

(CD)