Write a commentMonday night's monthly meeting of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council once again turned into an endurance event, with the meeting lasting over five hours, with much of that time spent discussing the proposed City Centre Regeneration scheme as part of the Belfast Region City Deal, and principally the Civic Centre part of that.
The Albert Basin Park was always lurking in the background, with a mention from several Councillors, even though it isn't part of the project. The end result was, that in a roundabout fashion Councillors once again agreed a form of words that would require a Public Consultation to be carried out on the Newry City Centre Regeneration project!
After much discussion it's unsure if matters are any further on though. In July Cllr Gavin Malone put forward a motion calling for work to stop on the Civic Centre project for the remainder of the council term. This was discussed at the August Strategy, Policy and Resources meeting when Cllr Michael Savage amended the motion to agree not to go to tender, or submit a planning application for the scheme, until recommendations from a re-evaluation by council were put to a public consultation. This motion was passed despite Sinn Féin voting against it, with Cllr Barra Ó Muirí saying the party "were not happy to accept the amendment and had no issue letting the process continue to planning and the public consultation would take place through the planning procedures"
Proposals Galore at October SP&R
Roll the clock forward to the October SP&R meeting and a Presentation by Deloitte, together with a report from Conor Mallon, Acting Director Enterprise, Regeneration and Tourism outlining an overview of the business case for the Newry City Centre Regeneration scheme. This was not open to the press but following the closed session it was noted that several proposals had been made. Cllr Patrick Brown proposed that Council "go back and rework the business case to include the Albert Basin Park project as an option in the business case and hold off until that OBC could be reviewed by Councillors." * This proposal was lost.
Next in the queue was Cllr Barra Ó Muirí who proposed to accept the officers recomendations. Cllr Savage asked if he would accept an amendment to his proposal "to include an external public consultation with all aspects of the project in parallel with the economic appraisal" but this was refused.
The proposal was carried but then Cllr Savage made his potential amendment into a proposal "to accept the officers recommendation to proceed with option 7 and to include an extensive public consultation with all aspects of the project in parallel with the economic appraisal" This proposal was lost, potentially overriding his original revised motion back in August. Cllr Pete Byrne queried the vote process in relation to above votes "as he would have to vote against Councillor Savage's proposal due to having voted for the previous proposal by Councillor Muirí"
As a result of the vote being carried members approved the following recommendations from the NCCR Programme Board:
- That Option 7 is the preferred option for the NCCR Programme subject to ongoing council approvals at key stages as summarised at annexe A
- That design development continues alongside costs forcasts and value engineering optionsl
- That Council submit the full Outline Business Case to the Belfast Region City Deal programme management office to support Council's claim for £8M funding.
- That the Programme Board develop and implement the next stage of the stakeholder engagement and communication strategy.
Full Council Meeting 2/11/20
Monday night's full Council meeting saw the matter discussed at length yet again with the Octobers SP&R minutes up for ratification. This time Cllr Savage was straight in with a proposal to amend the last recommendation above to "That the Programme Board develop and implement the next stage of the stakeholder engagement and communication strategy and shapes an extensive district-wide public consultation on all aspects of the Newry City Regeneration project in parallel with the independent economic appraisal."
This time round Sinn Féin supported Clr Savage's amendment despite refusing to support a proposal by the same councillor, saying essentially the same thing at the October SP&R meeting.
Moving to Outline Business Case
Cllr Savage in putting his amendment forward said "I want to make it clear to all the citizens of this district from Culloville to Saintfield, from Newtownhamilton to Ardglass that tonight’s decision is about moving to Outline Business Case. There is no commitment at this stage in the process to proceed beyond that stage. These are early days and any scaremongering to the contrary is just that – scaremongering."
Cllr Savage cited his reasons for proposing the amendment including the way the world has changed since Covid-19, giving Council a chance to engage with key stakeholders and to show the SDLP's committment to a balanced and fair approach to economic development.
Three Strands
Cllr Savage went on to name three strands of the project
"1.The Newry City Regeneration Project which, some 18 years after Newry received City Status, provides us with a unique and potentially once in a generation opportunity to help fulfil Newry’s potential as a City. That opportunity presents itself now in the form of the Belfast City Deal. Newry’s opportunity has come first because the City Deal opportunity is there to be capitalised on now at this time. The amendment allows us to continue on the process, does not jeopardise that multi-million pound investment into our city and district but also allows us to inform all the citizens of our district, listen to their concerns and bring them with us.
"2. The Gateway to the Mournes project, again presenting itself now due to the Belfast City Deal, gives us the opportunity to maximise the tourism potential of our greatest tourism asset The Mournes and along with that, the potential development of Newcastle as a world class tourist destination.
"3. Chair - The regeneration of Downpatrick Town Centre is the third strand of this economic development trilogy and the SDLP is deeply committed to ensuring that the Council’s dual centre approach within this Council Area is not just about administrative centres it is about redeveloping Downpatrick and the surrounding area to its rightful place as the vibrant County Town of Down."
Pig in a Poke
Speaking about the project Cllr Henry Reilly said "Some time ago I described the proposals for Newry Civic Centre as a 'pig in a poke' and I stand by that. It's just a mess. Regardless of what you try to do in that restricted area it's never going to be a viable long term proposal that could be self sustaining."
"One of the things that really annoys me about this Belfast City Deal. Whenever Kilkeel Harbour was very high on the priority we were told well over a year ago that we had to drop the Harbour Proposal because the Business Case hadn't been done and now a year on we are finding out that the Business Case in terms of Newry was never agreed at that time despite what we were told."
Strengthens the proposal
Seconding the proposal Cllr Willie Clarke said "Happy to second the proposal from Michael. It certainly strengthens the proposal that we have that full consultation. Nobody has anything to fear from a good robust consultation"
Location would be an issue
Also supporting Cllr Savage's motion Cllr Gavin Malone said "What I would say to Councillor Savage, is the location would be an issue with a lot of people I have spoken to, particularly business people, and management would need to take that on board."
Sure it's all make believe isn't it!
Vice Chairperson, Newry City Centre Regeneration Board, Cllr Roisin Mulgrew used the opportunity to vent her exasperation "At this stage of this process my head's spinning. A year ago this council unamiously backed the location of the Civic Centre and I have to say I'm extremely disappointed at some of the Social Media that has come out on this over the weekend
"There's a couple of questions and I think Michael Lipsett is on the meeting so I want to ask him a direct question. I chair the Albert Basin Task and Finish and we have made significant progress on that especially during the lockdown. It was one of those projects which we prioritised to endeavour to make sure that it continued to work through the process. At what point did any of our officers come out and say that the park was going to cost £1.5 million **, because as the chair that figure has never been discussed with me and I don't know how it managed to get in to Social Media. What exactly is 1.5 million going to represent for the people of Newry or was that just another figure that was plucked from the air to create a level of animosity towards the Newry City Regeneration deal. The figures I have seen, and I rarely miss a meeting are not reflective of figures or meetings or conversations which any of us have had. I don't envisage that a park is going to cost 1.5 million, I would invisage that the park would cost more than that and if it costs more than that so be it. The people of Newry and the surrounding area are entitled to a park irrespective of what that cost is."
Five foot eight blonde daughter of a millionaire
The other figure was the 30 million pounds *** which Marie has eluded to tonight and come out with the accurate figures which I was pleased to see that, but again, throw the number out there, why dont ye, sure it will just upset people. If you're going to have an argument base it on fact because if we are going to start this Walter Mitty carry on and this is how we are going to continue to conduct business in this council chamber, can I have it noted that I'm 28 a five foot eight blonde and the daughter of a millionaire . .. sure it's all make believe isn't it. But that's what we've done to this project, that's what we have turned it in to - It's a circus"
Cllr Mulgrew continued "We were more than happy to second Cllr Savage's amendment to the motion because we fully realise that. we as councillors sit here. we come up with the projects which are specific to our areas and to the growth of the whole district. We then ask our officers to go out there and scope and find out how they can deliver these projects. Now I would imagine in the coming months and year that we would probably look at the Peace Plus money perhaps for the likes of the park in Newry, but at the moment this was the project that ticked the boxes for the Belfast City Regeneration deal. This was the project that would get over the line to qualify for that money."
No idea what the park would cost
Director of Active and Healthy Communities, Michael Lipsett in reply to Cllr Mulgrews comments said "We have never mentioned a figure at all for Albert Basin Park ever because we haven't scoped out the project yet and we have absolutely no idea what that park would cost."
Hopefully Amendment puts this to bed
The Chairperson of the Newry City Centre Regeneration Board, Cllr Pete Byrne said he was glad there was broad agreement around the amendment "Hopefully the amendment puts this to bed. I agree with some of the previous speakers and some of the nonsense that's going on over the last couple of months and I suppose from somebody who's in this process in all different forums, I think the issue started off with Councillors not engaging in discussions over the last year, the discussions over large capital projects. So when they didn't engage because they didn't have an appetite for the projects, they were misinformed themselves, and then they took that information and actively pedalled it in the public and I have to say on record. If I was a member of the public getting that misinformation fed to me I'd be bloody angry too. But as Cllr Mulgrew said and Cllr Savage before, the information that's being pedalled to the public is simply wrong."
Going back over some comments made earlier in the discussion Cllr Byrne said "Cllr Malone talked about the business people on Hill Street, don't think that it's a good option. That's the whole point of the OBC. The Outline Business Case is what we are presenting to the City Deal Panel and it will be independently appraised by economists and there are a number of outcomes, and I'm not going to list them so there's no need to cut me off and go into committee because we're talking about footfall, we're talking about number of visitors at night, we are talking about increase in jobs and we have figures set against them, and those figures are going to be put with our outline business case and we are going to get feedback from independent economists, so it's not our Senior Management that's telling us these figures right now. We want an independent appraisal of them. When those figures are appraised and independently come back to us we will be making decision to go to full business case. There is no spend here. I mean to read on Social Media that suddenly we are signed off on Monday night and contact all your Councillors, you'd be scratching your head. It is either deliberate or people simply don't understand it"
"I disagree with the comment that now is not the right time. Now is the right time, If there was ever a time now is the right time to make decisions like this. There's no point in talking about being poor relations of Newry being a city between Belfast and Derry. When we are on this route in the Belfast Corridor and we have opportunities. We have ministers engaging with us, we've got big capital projects in the City Deal panel and we're seriously not going to take that opportunity because the public are outraged over misinformation?"
Also supporting the amendment Cllr David Taylor added "I always get concerned when I see projects being pitted against each other here. As someone who has grew up in Newry, still resides in Newry and is raising a family in Newry I want to see ambition for the city that we all belong to and what we see from all these captital schemes and that includes the park of which I'm very supportive as well, I see ambition going forward for one of the major areas in our district. And that doesn't mean other parts of the district should be left behind, we should be as a Council unified and try to develop all areas of the district, but I want to see a vibrant progressive city moving forward and I think by trying to deliver these type of proposals that's what we can bring forward for our community in the years to come. I want my son to grow up in a vibrant progressive city I want to see ambition and I think these type of proposals coming forward are ambitious, and our officials whilst none of us are perfect and we all have times where we criticise officials and we criticise each other even as political parties. I think the work that has went in to all these capital scheme projects shows great ambition on the part of our Council."
Following the discussions Council Chairperson, Cllr Laura Devlin asked Councillors were they all in broad agreement and that was accepted. Cllr Gareth Sharvin abstained. The Amendment was agreed.
Notes
*Amended by Cllr Brown at full council meeting 2/11
** It's believed the 1.5M mentioned related to a suggestion on the Albert Basin Park Project Group's Facebook account asking councillors to "pledge £1.5 million to fund a full project team to proceed with the Albert Basin Park Project"
*** The £30 million may refer to a post again on the Albert Basin PArk Project's Facebook "On Monday the 2nd November Newry Mourne Down District Council will vote on approving a business case that will put them on track to committing at least £30M of ratepayer money towards new City Regeneration Projects for Newry City."
