Portaferry funding axed

Portaferry funding axed

28 April 2021

A DECISION by the Department for Communities not to fund a £1.4m public realm scheme for Portaferry has been branded “incomprehensible” by the chairman of the town’s regeneration body.

A new civic space complete with seating, landscaping and lighting – mostly funded by the Department with support from Ards and North Down Borough Council - now cannot proceed later this year.

The council was told recently by the Department that its four-year plan for the scheme could not be funded as it fell outside its operational remit for urban regeneration  for settlements of over 5,000 as the population of Portaferry is 2,514.

The council has already spent £100,000 in preparing the plans and set aside a further £300,000 to add to the £1m funding expected from the Department.

Mr John Dumigan, chairman of Portaferry Regeneration Ltd, said yesterday: “This decision is incomprehensible to us at this time.

“Never was it said to us that this was a policy issue. We were told that provided we had a business case that stacked up and provided the Department had the funding for the year in which we were going to do the work that the scheme would be funded.

“The council created a steering group on which sat an official from the Department for Communities so it’s not like we were doing things out of their sight.  They knew exactly what was going on and never once said you’d better handbrake this because we are not sure of  the policy is.

“Now to be told that it’s not going to be funded, we just don’t understand why that could not have been made clear to us at the beginning. I feel that this is maladministration on the part of the Department for Communities and it’s an absolutely appalling and disappointing outcome for the town of Portaferry.”

The issue is to be discussed by the full council tonight and the council has already agreed to send a letter to the Minister stressing the need and expectation for the scheme.

Cllr Joe Boyle, who was chairman of the council’s steering group, is also angry at the decision.

“I will be asking when this fell off the radar for the Department, when it went from 2,500 to 5,000 population”, said the SDLP councillor.

“We applied in good faith in what we thought was a 2,500 population scheme and we were nursed along for four years where nobody ever said we weren’t getting it due to a population basis.

“I want to ask the council more questions tonight on what exactly they knew here, outside and above the Minister’s letter which came two weeks ago.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Communities said: “Throughout the development of the proposed Portaferry public realm project, Departmental officials were explicit that any DfC funding for the project would be on the basis of a successful economic appraisal, and in the context of its regeneration priorities, policy focus and confirmed capital budget.

“While Minister Givan announced in 2017 his intention to support regeneration projects in smaller settlements, this was subject to a successful bid for additional funding.

Shortly afterwards the Executive collapsed and this funding was not secured, meaning that the proposal could not be implemented at that time.

The Department is currently in discussions with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs and the Department for Infrastructure on developing a more collaborative approach to rural regeneration. However, no commitments can be made until that work completes.”