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After refusing to reveal how much of ratepayers’ money it has spent so far on the Newry City Centre regeneration projects, as it was “considered commercially sensitive” and withheld under “Regulation 12(5)(e) of the Environmental Information Regulations (EiR) 2004 - confidentiality of commercial or industrial information”, the council has done a U-turn.
While it will be ratepayers who will pay for the proposed new council offices behind Newry Cathedral, and the theatre/conference centre on the site of the Sean Hollywood Arts Centre in the city, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council has continually refused to provide information to the media and the public as to the estimated costs of the two projects.
Figures of £15m+ for the offices and £18.4m+ for the theatre/conference centre were muted in early 2022 - a far cry for the combined estimated cost of £20m for the two projects in September 2019 - but there has been nothing officially released by the council to the public for the last number of years.
Spend getting close to £2m
Newry.ie recently requested an update on the amount of ratepayers’ money the council had spent on the projects thus far.
Previously released expenditure figures of £358,110 covered the period August 2017 to August 2019 and although not released to the public, Newry.ie is aware that by January 2021, spend had increased to £1,128,000.
However, as this figure was not officially released by the council, an official update from September 2019 to March 17, 2023 - the date the council lodged its planning application for its proposed new offices - was requested.
This was refused with the council citing EiR Regulation 12(5)(e), to withhold the information.
Part of the reasoning given by the council for refusal included the “Likelihood of disclosure having an adverse effect on the progression of the project” and “Misinformation relating to the withheld information could also lead to premature speculation on this project. Such unnecessary disruption cannot be in the public interest.”
Newry.ie challenged both reasons - the council said it would respond by July 10 however in the meantime came the U-turn.
“Newry, Mourne and Down District Council have reviewed your original request of 15 May 2023 [the one it rejected] and now attach recorded information relating to your request,” the council advised.
The attached information included a full list of individual costs and dates, but the names of the contracted businesses were redacted however, the bottom line is that from 01/09/2019 to 17/03/2023 the council spent £1,352,837 on the Newry City Centre Regeneration projects.
Add this to the £358,110 covering the period from August 2017 to August 2019 and the total spend to date is £1,710947.
This figure is expected to rise as neither project has gone through planning yet and with both NI Water and the Department for Infrastructure (Roads Service) rejecting the proposed council office plans, there is substantial work that will need to be done in advance to satisfy their requirements.
Political parties mute on costs
Prior to receiving the spend figures, and with planning applications in for the two city centre regeneration projects, Newry.ie put the council’s reluctance to provide financial information to the public to the local political party leaders of Sinn Féin, SDLP, Alliance, UUP and DUP.
Was it not an embarrassment for councillors following the fanfare launch of the projects in November 2017 - and with planning applications lodged - that nearly six years later the estimated costs were still not available, and no one will be upfront about the potential costs to ratepayers?
We pointed out that ultimately councillors are responsible for guiding and directing council directors/management, so were councillors holding back the figures for these projects, particularly for their new offices, from the public?
We asked was it not time councillors were open and transparent with their constituents as to how much the new offices could potentially cost ratepayers and how they will be paid for considering councillors intend to take the council debt to some £124m in the next two years while assurance has been given to the Newry business community, that none of the costs will impact on rates in future years?
Even after extending the reply date, not one party replied.
