Write a commentThe Borough status debate continues with Councillor Terry Hearty claiming that borough status does not reflect the image of the district that the council is trying to reflect to tourists and that we can still have a mayor without borough status.
“This is an issue we gave serious consideration to. We held a number of meetings with people from the tourism sector and our colleagues in Louth County Council and we came to the conclusion that the description of borough simply does not reflect the image of the area we are trying to present.
“In terms of tourism we are marketing Newry, Mourne and Down as a rough, rugged landscape. A largely rural area that encapsulates both dramatic, invigorating coastlines and rugged, breathtaking hills and mountains, not to mention our three Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
“All this fits in with our work through the Louth Memorandum Of Understanding to have the Ireland’s Ancient East tourism initiative expanded into the north and right up along the east coast.
“While there are various types of borough, a borough is traditionally described as being a sort of walled town and this takes away from the image we are trying to sell. A borough is also usually centred around a single town and is distinct from a city. Our district, however, has a number of large towns, all with their own unique personalities, and a city.
“There is nothing to be gained from applying for borough status. If the only motivation for this is that we can have a mayor then it is a misguided one. As a council we can still take the decision to change from chairperson to mayor. After all, the old Newry and Mourne District Council had a mayor for more than 10 years.
“I find it deeply disingenuous of the SDLP to describe this as political point scoring. I myself pushed the council to set up a separate group to deal specifically with tourism as I feel it has major potential for the area. Their allegation of political point scoring is very suspect as it was quite clear that even the SDLP aren’t sold on this idea. Several of their councillors who normally speak in the council remained silent on this matter, in particular their Slieve Gullion representative failed to voice an opinion and two of their councillors failed to show up at all.
“On the other hand the decision to stop any application for borough status was supported wholeheartedly by Sinn Féin, seconded by the Alliance Party and supported by them as well as all but one of the independents.
“Sinn Féin has never agreed to borough status. Nothing is agreed by any party until it comes before the full council. We agreed to floor the suggestion so that all parties would have time to investigate and examine it, evaluate the pros and cons and then make their decision at full council.
“We examined it and found that not only would it bring nothing to the area but we can still have a mayor without it. Borough status is not something we can pick and choose from. You either have it or you don’t and once you have it it opens the door for all the other trappings and pomposity that come with it.”
