‘Challenging times’ for many

‘Challenging times’ for many

5 February 2025

THE leader of the local authority’s Sinn Fein councillors said it was incumbent on all parties to work together for the benefit of ratepayers and businesses in “continued challenging times”.

Downpatrick councillor Oonagh Hanlon — who formally proposed the 3.98% increase — said the above inflation rise is lower than what was predicted and equated to a 47p weekly increase for average ratepayers.

“As elected representatives to oversee and scrutinise the financial management of the council, Sinn Féin take this responsibility very seriously,” insisted Cllr Hanlon.

“We want to secure a stable financial budget for this district, one which will secure funding for capital projects and continue to deliver for our communities.

“We also have agreed an increased budget to implement a cleansing schedule across the district, create more jobs and purchase modern equipment. This will ultimately ensure our towns and villages are maintained to the highest of standards and support the teams who work hard to deliver this service.”

Cllr Hanlon said it was imperative the local authority continued to move forward with plans to regenerate towns and city and improve its tourism offering.

“If we look across the district, there are exciting projects being delivered such as a new play strategy, digital transformation in Newry, the pump and skate park in Downpatrick and regeneration projects, upgrades to Castlewellan Forest Park, progression on the Newcastle Leisure Centre and Rock Pool, the refurbishment of Kilkeel Leisure Centre and the upgrade and maintenance of walking trails across the district. 

“The council also provides a comprehensive financial assistance programme that supports our local communities across a variety of themes and fiscal stability is critical to these plans — afurther reduction of the rate would result in cutting services, service level agreements and supporting community events and ensuring jobs are safe for our staff.”

Cllr Hanlon added: “This has been another challenging year and created challenges for local government in terms of the increase for national insurance contributions and the rise in overall costs.”

Downpatrick SDLP councillor Gareth Sharvin said given a 9.18% rates increase was potentially on the cards last November, there had been a journey of working together to protect frontline services, enhance efficiency and continue to grow the council area as an attraction for investment, opportunity and make it the number one tourism destination in the country.

He said the Westminster government and the Assembly had not made the annual rates process easy with increased National Insurance contributions and reducing financial help via the rates support grant.

“This council has seen cuts on financial support for animal welfare, the Policing and Community Safety Partnership, community events grants and others and this has to be picked up by the council to make our community safer, protect animals and deliver first class events,” said Cllr Sharvin.

“Agreeing a rates increase is never easy, but we need to ensure frontline services continue and we keep moving forward as a district and we will be delivering an ambitious plan,” continued Cllr Sharvin.

“There will be new refuse and cleansing vehicles across the district, especially in the Downpatrick area. We are progressing with the Rock Pool and new leisure centre projects in Newcastle and investing £1m in our play parks, contributing to the new GAA centre of excellence in Ballykinlar, regeneration projects in Downpatrick worth £577,000 and providing £1m in financial assistance to organisations.”

Cllr Sharvin said the council was committed to spending £4m on a significant upgrade of Castlewellan forest park and £2.5m for the Albert Basin city park project in Newry which has secured £16.2m in grant funding and £1.8m on a sports facility strategy.

He added: “Unfortunately, there is nothing more we can do to reduce the rate. We can’t cut any more as it will impact on frontline services.”