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Information on what was discussed regarding the proposed Albert Basin Park at last night's, 14 October, Strategy, Policy and Resources meeting of Newry, Mourne and Down Council is as rare as the proverbial hens teeth.
The little morsels of information that have been appearing, which included an announcement on the front page of this weeks Newry Reporter of a possible "£16M Park Boost?" haven't went down very well with Council Management although this hasn't stopped it being revisited in statements today from MLA Liz Kimmins who said the £16M application was for 'enabling and landscape works' and Cllr Patrick Brown who said there was "zero chance this would have happened if it weren't for the huge amount of public pressure applied by community organisers and campaigners"
Disappointed
At last night's meeting Marie Ward, Council CEO while expressing her disappointment at the disclosure of a 'closed session item' still managed to appear to confirm what was said in the paper and even add a bit more of the 'secret' information, ie that the figure relates to a submission on 8 September.
Speaking before going into closed session Ward said "I just wanted to say that [I'm] very disappointed to see that an item that was in a closed session, that was only uploaded to our meeting management system around four o clock on Monday appeared on the front page of a local newspaper and indeed across social media the next day. That's completely in contravention of the governance set down in relation to meetings. I just wanted to highlight that to members. That's the paper that relates to the complimentary fund and indeed relates to bids that were made by, submitted, or expressions of interest that were submitted by Council on the 8th of September this year, that was being brought to Councillors attention for information only."
Stranger than fiction
What make this downright weird is that while Council say they made a 'bid' or 'Expression of Interest' to the City Deal Complimentary Fund on 8 September, this appears not to have been mentioned at the meeting of the Newry City Centre Regeneration Programme Board Meeting on 24 September, which was specifically about the park, over two weeks later! In fact the Minutes of that meeting record that SP&R Chairperson, Councillor Oonagh Hanlon had asked "What stage can we look at outside funding so the ratepayer would not be taking the bulk of this spend" to which Conor Mallon advised that "funding bodies would normally require applications to include a business case approval, planning approval, confirmation of match funding and in some circumstances a procurement exercise would need to have been completed, but each funder would have their own individual criteria and requirements". In other words best leave it for a while as there would be an awful awful lot of work needed to be done, before Council could look for outside funding ... and yet they had already made a bid or expression of interest for a massive £16M but nobody though this important enough to mention!
Legal support to direct and guide
Before the meeting had even started the Council CEO told Councillors that a legal representative was joining the meeting "I have taken the decision to bring forward legal support for our SP&R Committee for the couple of months moving forward and that's a result of things that have happened at SP&R, accusations made against officers etc in recent months so we have legal advice here present to direct us and give us any guidance that's needed throughout the course of the meeting."
Park Discussions
The Albert Basin Park was discussed at last nights meeting with documents on the proposed Phase 1 of the project as well as a concept layout and programme but it's not known if these contained any new information or a reduction in costings or timelines as had been requested. Following the in committee conversation Cllr O Hanlon said what had been agreed. "On the proposal of Cllr Taylor and seconded by Cllr Ó Muirí it was agreed that elected members consider and approve the appointment of our framework consultants Tetratek to complete an Outline Business Case for the Albert Basin City Park to identify the preferred option, provide design and cost information to support the completion of the Outline Business Case." In other words possibly not the real Outline Business Case but an Outline Business Case to support it! Plain English students take note!
Welcome but we need more!
MLA, Liz Kimmins while welcoming the Council's bid for the funding for enabling and landscaping works for the park says more is needed.
“It’s great to see the Council moving proactively to try and secure funds to start works on the Albert Basin site for Newry’s city centre park. However, the Council must ensure that they do not let this momentum pass by and continue to press forward and progress this project.
“Sinn Féin support and are fully committed to the delivery of a top of the range city centre park for Newry and have been urging the council to engage with all potential funders to draw down as much funding as possible for the project.
“Sinn Féin have already been very proactive in meeting with several groups over recent months to look at various funding streams for the project.
“A Sinn Féin delegation met with the Department of Foreign Affairs to discuss the possibility of Shared Island funding”.
MLA Kimmins continued “We have also had discussions with the Big Lottery Fund, The Department for Communities and the Reconciliation Fund about securing money for the project. On top of that- through our work on Louth County Council, Sinn Féin has placed the Newry city centre park on the Action Sheet as a priority for the strategic alliance between our Council areas.
“This will put the project in a favourable position to attract funding from the PEACE Plus programme when it opens for applications.
“Sinn Féin sees the delivery of a city centre park for Newry as a key part of the broader regeneration of Newry. Whilst much more has to be done, this application is a clear sign of progress and a welcome development"
Public Pressure
Councillor Patrick Brown said he was pleased to share that council have already submitted a bid for £16m to the Dept of Finance for the park.
"Whilst this is a very positive step in the right direction, it's important to note that this is a funding bid and not a funding commitment in the rates (which previously proposals by myself and Cllr Gavin Malone would have done). Council still needs to put its own money where it's mouth is regarding the park. There is also zero chance this would have happened if it weren't for the huge amount of public pressure applied by community organisers and campaigners across the district in recent weeks.
"But this is just a first step and major questions still need to be answered about the cost and design of the park, the timeframe for delivery and, of course, why council is still proposing to spend over £20m on unwanted and unnecessary new offices. That is exactly why I will be attending the trade union and community led public rally on the 23rd October - let's keep the pressure up!"
Background
Back in May Finance Minister Conor Murphy announced new funding for infrastructure, regeneration and tourism projects across the north that were complementary to the city deal proposals.
Before this latest application Newry, Mourne and Down Council had applied for Belfast Region City Deal funding for projects including new Theatre/ Conference facilities at the Sean Hollywood Arts Centre/ Newry Town Hall, Southern Relief Road, provision of Grade A office accommodation and Public Realm work.
Whatever it was that was decided at last night's meeting will go forward for ratification at the full Council meeting in November. Meanwhile plans continue at a pace for a Unite the Union Public Rally in support of the park at Marcus Square, Newry next Saturday 23 October.
