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It would appear the Newry city centre business community has had enough.
The Council’s two planning applications to replace free parking at North Street with a Pay & Display facility while at the same time expecting ratepayers to pay for the construction and running costs of a new free council staff car park and shuttle service in Cecil Street have tipped them over the edge.
Now, even the most mild-mannered of Newry business people, long established family businesses, and others have asked Newry BID to facilitate an emergency meeting.
Wednesday, June 19
That meeting will take place next Wednesday, June 19, at 7pm in the Canal Court Hotel and is for Newry BID members of which there are some 600.
On the invitation sent to BID members it states: “Newry City Centre is facing unprecedented challenges. We want to take action to secure its future.
“Business rates, flood risk, parking/accessibility, underinvestment in infrastructure, and concerns around the cost of publicly funded projects; are just some of the issues seriously impacting the cost of doing business in the city centre.
“Join us, have your say, and help provide data driven insights as to how we help to resolve these concerns.
“We will take your concerns to central and local Government to help make Newry a great place to live, work and importantly, do business.”
Councillors and management invites
Invited to attend are the six local Newry City councillors - Aidan Mathers, Valerie Harte, Cathal King, Geraldine Kearns (all Sinn Féin) along with Doire Finn and Killian Feehan (both SDLP).
An invitation has also been extended to Newry Mourne and Down District Council Chief Executive Marie Ward and Director Conor Mallon - the director leading the Newry City Centre Regeneration projects.
Mrs Ward and Mr Mallon have briefed the Newry Chamber of Commerce and Trade board on numerous occasions over the last number of years on Newry city regeneration – and as recently as Tuesday past - however, they have failed to devote any time to sitting down to discuss regeneration plans with the Newry BID board - the larger of the two business representative bodies in the city.
