Write a comment
The development company behind a new £47 million development at Carnbane Way in Newry has accused Newry Chamber of Commerce and Trade of sending out the message that “Newry is closed for new business and investment”
In a Press Release issued yesterday the company accused the Chamber of preparing to close the city for business by pushing ahead with a hugely expensive court action in a desperate bid to block and delay a £47 million development at Carnbane Way.
A spokesman for the Hill Partnership, the development company behind the scheme said over £750,000 will be wasted on legal fees and £7.9 million in wages for local workers will be put on hold as a result of the Chamber’s “cynically selfish legal action.”
Neil Armstrong accused the Chamber of adopting a “selfish legal route strategy” that will delay the employment dreams of 800 local people
“By trying to protect their own interests these people have shown that they are prepared to jeopardise Newry’s position as the top destination for cross-border shopping’” he said. “The decision by the Chamber to seek leave for a Judicial Review of the £47 million development is a blatant attempt to protect vested interests.
“But by doing so it is effectively sending out that Newry is closed for new business and investment.
“Meanwhile their short-sighted action has to be viewed against the backdrop of Banbridge celebrating the arrival of a new Tesco store at The Outlet and the fact that it is attracting huge numbers of cross-border shoppers and shoppers from Newry.”
The Hill Partnership spokesman said it was clear that ‘selfish and self-serving interests’ were prepared to try and manipulate the legal system in a bid to simply delay work starting at Carnbane Way.
“There are people, sadly, that appear to want to put self-protectionism above the greater good of the Newry community,” he said. “By trying to hold up a £47 million investment, 800 jobs and £7.9 million in annual wages they have clearly shown they are prepared to sacrifice that level of human and financial investment going directly into the local economy.”
He added: “Just a few weeks after it was confirmed that nearly a hundred more jobs have been lost from our city as a result of the closure of the HMRC offices we have the astonishing news that the Chamber, at all costs, is determined to pursue its own agenda.
“Against that sad backdrop there can be no logical reason for backing a campaign that will cause further economic hardship. It simply defies belief.
“There are hundreds of workers in the construction industry that have to travel as far afield as Dublin as well as across the water in order to get work.
“Let the Chamber explain to those workers and their families why it makes sense for the Carnbane Way project to be stalled.
“Let the Chamber explain why they are delaying upwards of 400 construction jobs over a two year period, and a further 400 jobs on completion, generating £7.9 million in wages initially and a further £7.1 million in wages per annum going forward.
“Many more millions will be pumped, year after year, into the local economy both in wages and spending power once the single retail unit and business park complex is completed.
“Indeed let the Chamber explain to its members why it’s spending hundreds of thousands of pounds of their money on a futile exercise; money that could be better spent in support of Newry rather than delaying job creation.”
Neil Armstrong described the campaign of opposition against the new development as a “smokescreen of misinformation built around scaremongering.”
“One has to ask who is actually pulling the strings within the Chamber and who the puppet masters are actually working for?” he said. “Is it really for the benefit of the people of Newry or is it to help a select small number of individuals?
“Despite claims to the contrary not every member of the Chamber supports the spending of considerable sums of money in a bid to destroy jobs.
“Yet they are being asked to defend the indefensible in the face of public opinion.
“They realise that totally independent opinion polls have shown that 97% of the people of Newry want the development to go ahead.
“Our project has been subject to the most rigorous examination at every level of the planning and legal process over the last five years.
“Nobody will be fooled by this pathetic last ditch attempt to delay an ambitious plan capable of bringing massive levels of investment both in the medium and long term to the wider Newry area.
“We are confident that our application, which already has been given full planning permission and has full Ministerial support, will deliver for the entire community.”
Write a comment
The Small Business Saturday campaign will be launched this Thursday the 20th of November in Hill Street in Newry.
Newry City Centre Management in association with Newry & Mourne District Council and Newry Chamber of Commerce & Trade will officially launch the campaign for the second year running on Thursday at 3:00pm in the Events Space, Cathedral Quarter, Hill Street with a visit from the Northern Ireland Small Business Saturday promotional bus. The campaign is based around supporting, inspiring and promoting small businesses and we are calling on all local retailers to come along to find out more and get involved on the Saturday 6th December to celebrate “Small Business Saturday” which coincides with our “Buy Local” message this Christmas.
Chairman of Newry City Centre Management – Jack Murphy stated: We are calling on all independent businesses to support the campaign by offering customers on the day a “Small Business Saturday Treat” and the ‘Hello Newry Team’ will promote all the offers or discounts via social media and local press. The number of small independent businesses operating within the City centre continues to grow and this is an ideal opportunity to showcase the unlimited choice, quality, great customer service and excellent value for money.
Mayor of Newry & Mourne District Council - Daire Hughes stated: Small Business Saturday is a great opportunity to support our local independent retailers within Newry City to support and celebrate the unique contribution they make to our local economy.
President of Newry Chamber of Commerce & Trade – Deborah Loughran stated: Newry Chamber is delighted to be once again supporting the “Small Business Saturday” initiative on Saturday 6th December to emphasise the strength of the independent and small business sector in the City and encourage local people to support service providers and retail outlets in their local area.
Official Launch of Small Business Saturday Promotional Bus
Thursday 20th November 2014, 3:00pm, Events Space, Cathedral Quarter, Hill Street.
All businesses are invited to come along to find out more regarding “Small Business Saturday” and how they can get involved.
Small Business Saturday
Saturday 6th December 2014, 10:00am – 2:00pm, Events Space, Cathedral Quarter, Hill Street
Outside broadcast with Q Radio 100.5FM / promotional team will be handing out branded shopping bags and information including music and on street entertainment.
If you would like to find out more about the “Small Business Saturday and how you as a business can get involved in providing offers and participating in outside broadcast on Saturday 6th December in Newry City please contact:
Newry City Centre Management – T: 028 3025 0303 / E: donna@newry.com.
to find out more information about forthcoming events or shopping in newry city please visit: www.newry.com, or checkout the cathedral quarter and creamery quarter facebook pages or say hello on twitter: @hello_newry
Write a comment
Newry company Brilliant Red this week delivered a series of innovative workshops throughout Northern Ireland based on a successful US programme designed to support young entrepreneurs start their own business.
Brilliant Red, a business management consultancy firm based in Jerrettpass, is engaging with a host of aspiring businessmen and woman at 15 ‘Ideation Camps’ which are taking place throughout Craigavon, Bangor, Armagh, Newry, Lisburn, Downpatrick and Banbridge during what is Global Enterprise Week.
Organised by Craigavon Borough Council, the workshops are part of the ‘Bright Idea’ youth entrepreneurship programme which was created by local councils in the South East region of Northern Ireland to help 18 to 29-year-olds get their business ideas off the ground. Brilliant Red has extensive experience in helping SMEs from a range of sectors reach their full potential.
Three Newry workshops took place at the Southern Regional College Newry campus on Tuesday 18th November and in Newry Hub west on Wednesday 19th November.
Paul Reavey from Brilliant Red said “The programme encourages innovation and entrepreneurship while motivating potential business owners to get their business off the ground and make a positive impact on the local economy by becoming business owners. We have a team of expert mentors on hand to expand people’s ideas and help them realise their market potential.”
The Bright Idea project is part-funded by Invest NI and the European Regional Development Fund under the Sustainable Competitiveness Programme. It was launched in June 2013 and will involve a series of business events and workshops between now and the end of June 2015.
Councillor Mark Baxter, Chair of Development Committee, Craigavon Borough Council, commented “The Ideation Camps are the perfect opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs to engage with industry experts and get advice on how best to take their business idea and turn it into a fully operational business. In fact, some of those in attendance didn’t have a business idea when they arrived but were able to use the workshops as inspiration to develop one. It was great to see such a dynamic group of young people determined to forge a successful business career.
“The Bright Idea programme seeks to replicate the success of a similar initiative in the US which equips young people with the knowledge and support required to make their dream of becoming their own boss a reality. It offers a free support package worth over £3,000 which includes a free website, accounts advice, a marketing plan, sales strategy, export mentoring and an investors’ bootcamp.”
For more information about the Bright Idea project, visit www.brightideani.com
Write a comment
Bank of Ireland UK in Newry this week hosted a business breakfast as part of Enterprise Week, the bank’s own bi-annual initiative that supports business growth through networking events, seminars, business clinics and Show Your Business events in bank branches across Northern Ireland.
Under the theme ‘Let’s Connect Globally’ the event was held to provide advice and guidance to local businesses with ambitions to expand into new markets and trade globally.
Among the guest speakers at the event in the Canal Court Hotel was Frank O’Connor, Financial Controller, First Derivatives who provided an insight into how the financial software company has grown from a local business start-up to a global player in recent years.
Write a comment
The Rug House in Newry has once again scooped a prestigious award with Clare Vallely winning the Best Exporter Award at last weeks Women in Business NI Awards.
Clare a 27 year old graduate from Dublin Institute of Technology studied Surveying and Property Economics. Her business career started whilst still at University when she set up The Rug House with brother Paul. The Rug House began as an online company selling rugs on eBay, Amazon and the company website. In recent time The Rug House have been creating waves in the local economy opening a new retail outlet in Carnbane Industrial Estate, Newry.
Over 400 guests attended the Women in Business NI Awards, held in the Culloden Estate and Spa. The annual event highlights the hard work and achievements of many business women who make a valuable contribution to economic life locally.
Increasing sales and multiple award wins have certainly made the Autumn and Winter season very successful for The Rug House. In September The Rug House won Exporter of the Year at the DANI Awards and this was followed by the Best SME Award at the UTV Business Eye Awards. Over this period staffing level have increased from 22 to 25 staff with a number of key positions still to be filled including shop and purchasing manager roles.
Clare explained "I am delighted to be recognised but this award is recognition of all our staff and their hard work. This is the busiest period of the year for The Rug House with homeowners investing in new rugs in time for Christmas and our staff have shown amazing commitment and work ethic to deal with the increased workload."
The Rug Houses Christmas Opening Hours are Monday to Saturday 9-6 with late night Thursday. For more information visit the company website www.therughouse.co.uk/rugs
Write a comment
Small Business Saturday, 6th December 2014, is an initiative which encourages people to support local, independent businesses in their area, both on the day itself and in the future.
The event runs from 10:00am – 2:00pm at the Events Space, Cathedral Quarter, Hill Street
Promotional team will be handing out branded shopping bags and information. There will also be music and on street entertainment.
Over 25 businesses have participated and provided offers on the day.
Originating in the USA in 2010, the campaign has seen great success so far, with small businesses reporting increased footfall and takings on the day. The initiative was introduced to Ireland and Britain for the first time last year, and received a very positive response from both businesses and customers.
Small Business Saturday is a celebration of small, independent shops and services, and here in Newry the Gaelic League hopes to help raise the profile of all the fantastic small businesses we have right on our doorstep and to encourage pre-Christmas commerce and signage through the Irish language, especially given the large numbers of southern shoppers who come to the town.
To that end, the Gaelic League in Newry, with some additional support from Aonad na Gaeilge, Comhairle an Iúir agus Mhúrn, has assisted three small local businesses in attracting 50% funding from FORAS NA GAEILGE for bilingual shop signage and is providing a large, colourful bilingual poster (to be available for tomorrow) to promote family-run businesses.
Encouraging citizens to ‘keep it local’, to BUY IRISH, and to use small businesses in Newry, will protect jobs and help retain a vibrant city centre.
Write a comment
Are you in business and want to know about the support you can obtain? What business grants you can apply for? Which funded programmes will help you grow your business? Do you need to secure finance? Thinking of entering new markets? Do you need help on how to survive? Are you looking to expand and/or recruit? Want to start your own business? Are you unsure of where to look for guidance, support and advice?
If the answer is ‘YES’ to any of these questions come to the Cross Border Business Support Expo taking place on the 29th January in the Carrickdale Hotel between 9.30am-12.30pm.
All the Business Support Agencies catering for the needs of businesses located within the Newry Dundalk region will be exhibiting at this unique event. This event will provide an ideal opportunity for local businesses to speak to all relevant Business Support Agencies in one morning, on a one-to-one basis, under one roof! The event will also feature a workshop on writing tenders and a presentation from Slender Choice on how they successfully sourced and secured grant funding and support to help grow their business.
This is event is joint hosted by Newry Chamber of Commerce & Trade and Dundalk Chamber of Commerce and is supported by InterTradeIreland and the Louth County Enterprise Board
Orla Jackson, Chief Executive of Newry Chamber of Commerce stated, ‘we are delighted to co-host this joint Chamber Cross Border event with InterTradeIreland once again. There is an array of business support programmes currently offered to local businesses; however, there is some confusion within the business community about where to look for this support and exactly what they can avail of. The aim of this event is to provide a forum where businesses can find out all they need to know about the support they can and should avail of’.
Grant Gilmore, Acting Director of Business Services and Programmes, InterTradeIreland, stated ‘Cross-border trade presents businesses with an invaluable opportunity to increase their sales, develop new markets and benefit from all-island expertise and innovation.
We encourage all SMEs from Newry and Dundalk and the surrounding areas to attend this event to see exactly what opportunities are available and how to access them.’
Confirmed exhibitors at the event include, InterTradeIreland, Invest NI, Newry & Mourne District Council, Louth County Council, Newry & Mourne Enterprise Agency, Southern Regional College, Department of Employment & Learning, Louth Regional Development Centre, Enterprise Ireland, EURES, Employability Louth, all of the main lending institutions, plus many more.
This event is open to all businesses in the Newry Dundalk region. Entry is free of charge. It will operate on a ‘business drop-in clinic’ format; whereby business representatives can call in to the event at any stage between the hours of 9.30am to 12.30pm on the 30 January. To register for the event or if you require further information, please email, Newry Chamber: info@newrychamber.com
Write a comment
Newry company First Derivatives have moved into marketing analytics with the launch of Delta Marketing Cloud with the move supported by the signing of a number of key pilot customers.
Brian Conlon, CEO of First Derivatives, commented: “We are pleased with the level of interest being shown in Delta Marketing Cloud which has already resulted in us signing a number of key pilot customers. While its commercialisation is still at an early stage, we believe it has the potential to generate significant recurring revenues for the Group. The launch also demonstrates the flexibility of the Delta platform and its ability to take us into new markets where there are exceptionally large volumes of data that require real time analysis. Our technology and experience gives First Derivatives a strong position in this expanding market.”
The explosion of digital and mobile marketing across all vertical markets is driving the need for technologies that can provide real-time analysis of large data volumes, which the Delta platform is ideally placed to meet. Industry analysts CEB estimate that marketing software spend will reach $32 billion by 2018 while, according to the Economist, the digital marketing sector is “going through something akin to the automation of the financial markets in the 1980s, with low latency the key to success.” Delta Marketing Cloud assists by combining both speed and scale with a flexible scoring algorithm and alerting process to allow clients to target the right prospects at the right time.
The launch of Delta Marketing Cloud leverages the power of the Group’s big data expertise to help sales and marketing professionals increase the return on their marketing and digital advertising investment, using the same core architecture currently used for analysis of billions of financial transactions per day. It combines real-time and reference data from numerous sources including website traffic, real-time advertising data, social media with proprietary CRM and other customer data. This produces a range of data analytics, such as predictive account-based scoring with real time geographic alert functionality to drive the responsiveness of sales channels.
Write a comment
Liam Nagle will take up the post of Chief Executive at Newry Based Norbrook from the start of February. The Norbrook group is present in 115 countries with sales of £210m in the year to July 2014
Commenting on his forthcoming post Mr Nagle said “I am honoured to be offered the role as Chief Executive of Norbrook, the business is in an excellent position and I am excited about working with the team to build on its success and take the business to even greater heights.”
Liam joins Norbrook from the SISK Group where he has been Chief Executive, and latterly Chairman, of Sisk’s construction and healthcare businesses.
Norbrook Chairman Sir Roy McNulty said “We are delighted to welcome Liam to Norbrook as Chief Executive. He brings a wide range of skills and experience which will be of great benefit to the team in Norbrook. The Company has a strong track record of innovation and growth, and we look forward to working with Liam in making the most of the opportunities we see ahead.”
Also welcoming Mr Nagle to the post Norbrook Deputy Chair, Lady Ballyedmond said “I am very pleased that Liam is joining us and I am sure that, with his leadership and energy, we can together create a further successful phase in Norbrook’s development”.
As well as his SISK expertise Mr Nagle brings over 20 years international business experience in finance, operations, marketing and mergers and acquisitions to his new role. He was a senior executive at Intel from 1994 to 1997 and led the start up for Bay Networks Europe as Vice-President (1997-1998). When Nortel Networks acquired Bay Networks in 1998, he held a number of senior roles in Nortel. In 2003, Nagle became Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of Bookham Technology. He was appointed President and Chief Operations Officer in 2004.
 |
 |
 |