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It's sometimes hard to work out at what stage of development the promised 15 acre Park at the Albert Basin in Newry is at! Has everyone really bought in to it?
Surely at a time when Newry appears to be 'on the up' it's the time for our officials and representatives to be 'blowing their trumpet' and shouting from the rooftops about this wonderful pending project, a game-changer for Newry City. No doubt the new Theatre complex and Civic centre have their supporters but on a scale of what's popular with the people of Newry there can only be one winner and that is the long awaited and long deserved park.
The provision of a beautiful park, a jewel in the crown of historic Newry is supported virtually unanimiously by the electorate and loved universally by all from baby's in arms to sprightly 95 year olds, though when it comes to those in charge it appears to be "The love that dare not speak its name"
How do we work that out you might ask? After all just on Monday of this week Council voted to approve the appointment of consultants - but where was the press statement from any of our Newry elected representatives praising and highlighting that hopefully significant step?
In a promotion in this months Agenda NI magazine with the hook "Small City - Big Vision" the Albert Basin Park was mentioned a total of zero times and unfortunately that's not unusual! The magazine article talks about the council's "ambitious regeneration strategy for growth and investment" and adds "The council's Regeneration and investment plan is a direct response to an assessment of need for the city and it is driven by the Council's vision of reinvigorating the historical core of the City Centre, with benefits to the wider District"
The article mentions the proposed Theatre and Conference faclities, the proposed Civic Hub and the proposed Southern Relief Road but alas not the proposed Albert Basin Park.
It's just one of many public proclaimations by Council in recent times about upcoming visionary projects in Newry that just happened to not mention the park, either carelessly or on purpose, you can decide that one yourself.
