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Newry, Mourne and Down District Council looks like it could be on another collision course with parishioners of Newry Cathedral Parish after it emerged the local authority has excluded the representatives of thousands of parishioners from a new Newry City Centre Regeneration (NCCR) stakeholder working group.
Newry.ie understands that an invitation to join the new regeneration working group, was recently sent out by a Council director to every stakeholder who had been a member of the first NCCR Working Group - with one major exception, Newry Cathedral Parish representatives.
That first working group was set up in early 2022 in reaction to the far from positive responses from the public to the Council’s NCCR Public Consultation in 2021.
That Group, ended somewhat shambolically with the last meeting in November 2022, the minutes of which and other matters raised, it is understood, are still outstanding, while requests by the Department for Communities, which chaired the working group, to the Council to reconvene the group went unheeded.
It is Newry.ie’s understanding that invitations to this second, new working group went out to Department for Communities, the Confederation of Community Groups, Newry and Mourne Co-op and Enterprise Agency, Newry BID, Newry Chamber of Commerce and Trade and a representative of ‘Arts and Drama Groups’ - all six previously sat on the first working group.
Council representation on the new group will total eight - two councillors, one Sinn Féin and one SDLP, and six council employees - two Council Directors, an Assistant Director, the NCCR Project Manager, the local DEA Coordinator and a member of the Council’s Communications team.
Council hasn’t covered itself in glory
The Council, in its dealings with Newry Cathedral Parish and its parishioners on plans to site its new offices in Abbey Way car park behind the Cathedral, despite warnings from consultants it would run into difficulties, hasn’t exactly covered itself in glory:
- Neither the Diocese of Dromore nor Cathedral representatives were told in advance of Council plans, that initially included putting a thoroughfare through the Cathedral garden, and only found out when attending the Council’s Newry regeneration launch in November 2017.
- While it was touting its controversial plans in public to build a new Newry HQ behind the Cathedral, the Council failed to sit down and speak with the Cathedral parish authorities directly for some four years.
- When Directors eventually did hold face-to-face discussions, it led to allegations from the Cathedral Parish representatives that their views were subsequently being misrepresented to councillors leading to the launch of a 'Save Our Cathedral' campaign.
- The Parish concerns resulted in an independent NCCR governance review by the Council. Parish representatives participated in the review, however, both the council and the independent auditor who carried out the review, have refused to release any of the report to the Cathedral that deals with the concerns they raised.
- Then there was the decision by the Council CEO - who to this day has yet to sit down with the Cathedral Parish representatives - to go behind their backs to Archbishop Eamon Martin seeking his support. It was an ill-judged move that did nothing but further damage relations.
Now it appears, with this snub to the Cathedral Parish, the Council aims to shoot itself in the foot with the potential to further alienate parishioners.
Newry BID says No
Newry.ie contacted the Department for Communities, Newry Chamber of Trade and Commerce and Newry BID asking if they would be comfortable sitting on a new Newry Regeneration working group at the exclusion of the Cathedral Parish, could this new working group act effectively without the participation of such a major stakeholder and were they confident this new group wouldn’t conclude in the same chaotic way as the first?
Newry Chamber, representing some 300 members from the Newry and Greater Newry area, avoided the questions putting the Newry.ie media query on the long finger: “This matter has been added to the agenda of our next Board meeting which takes place on Tuesday May 14th and will be discussed at that meeting,” said CEO Michael Savage.
Although in touch with Newry.ie regarding the media query, DfC has yet to officially respond.
However, Newry BID, the main business representative body for Newry City centre, with over 600 members, was more forthcoming.
BID Manager Eamonn Connolly said its response was, “Based on our stated positions, live engagement with members and a preliminary virtual response from Board members,” adding, “I suspect we will be having a single agenda item Board Meeting on the wider topic imminently and I would be better placed to respond after a detailed discussion on the matter.”
“As it stands the BID will not be taking up the invite to attend the initial proposed meeting as we are on record as requiring clarity on outstanding minutes and the status of the original consultation group,” he said.
“We have been given informal assurances that the outstanding minutes will be attended to, and the BID will reflect more fully at that stage as to where we stand in light of any further developments.
“We believe effective consultation requires engagement with as many stakeholders as possible and particularly those directly impacted. We are extremely strong on this point re the Flood Investigation, and we see no reason why it would be different here. As aforementioned, I will be in a better placed post an anticipated Board meeting on the topic.”
On the matter of the previous working group, Mr Connolly said: “The prior group experience has been unsatisfactory, and we would like to note the roll the DfC Chair played in resolving concerns we had along the way. Unfortunately, several remain outstanding.
“We cannot comment on the new group as we know nothing about it save the invite received and as advised, pending clarity of our concerns around the pre-existing group we are not in a position to engage with the new group, and it would therefore be wrong to speculate on its operation.”
Council silence
Newry.ie asked the Council why it excluded only the Cathedral Parish from its new Regeneration stakeholder group and none of the other stakeholders who sat on the NCCR OBC Working Group?
It was also asked why, considering its previously treatment of the Cathedral Parish what signal its believed this exclusion would send out to parishioners, ratepayers the business community in Newry?
The Council failed to respond.
