ARDS AND NORTH DOWN BOROUGH COUNCIL
31 May 2019
Dear Sir/Madam
You are hereby invited to attend a meeting of the Regeneration and Development Committee of the Ards and North Down Borough Council which will be held in the Council Chamber, 2 Church Street, Newtownards on Thursday 6 June 2019 commencing at 7.00pm.
Tea, coffee and sandwiches will be available from 6.00pm.
Yours faithfully
Stephen Reid Chief Executive Ards and North Down Borough Council
A G E N D A
1. Apologies
2. Declarations of Interest
3. Ards and North Down Economic Development Annual Activity Report 2018-19 (Report attached)
4. Digital Projects Update Report on: Local Full Fibre Network Project (LFFN), Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN); ERDF Digital Growth Programme and AND Digital Strategy (Report attached)
5. Economic Development Annual Conference: Unlocking Economic Growth (Report attached)
6. GCSE Support Revision Programme (Report attached)
7. SERC Food Skills Programme (Report attached)
8. Vacant Commercial Property Improvement Scheme (Report attached)
9. Redburn Square Revitalisation Scheme (Report attached)
10. Town Centre Wi-Fi Update (Report attached)
11. 5 Chambers of Commerce Yearly Review (Report attached)
12. Portaferry Steering Group Minutes (Copy attached)
13. Rural Development Programme – Village Renewal Update (Report attached)
14. Project 24 – Annual Review (Report attached)
15. Accommodation Audit and Scoping Report (Report attached)
16. Notice of Motion Update on North Channel Swim Signage and Medal (Report attached)
17. Notice of Motion Update on Scrabo Tower Signage (Report attached)
18. Tourism Performance Report Q4 2018/19 (Report attached)
19. Economic Development Performance Report Q4 2018-2019 (Report attached)
20. Regeneration Q4 Performance Report 2018-2019 (Report attached)
21. Annual Review of Ards and Bangor Visitor Information Centres 2018/2019 (Report attached)
22. Tourism Events Grants Review 2018-19 (Report attached)
23. Regeneration and Development Budgetary Control Report – March & April 2019 (Report attached)
24. Belfast Region City Deal Update (Report attached)
ITEMS 25-31 ***IN CONFIDENCE***
25. Presentation – Kieran Quinn – Pickie Ltd
26. NI Business Start Up Programme (NIBSUP) Financial Year 2 (Report attached)
27. Ards and North Down Social Entrepreneurship Programme 2018-20 – Request to Extend the Existing Tender (Report attached
28. DAERA Rural Tourism Scheme Update – Sea Plantations Project (Report attached)
29. Pickie Quarter 4 (1 January -31 March 2019) and Annual Review 2018-2019 (Report attached)
30. Quay Marinas Quarterly Report Jan-March 2019 and End of Year 2018-19 (Report attached)
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31. Exploris Quarter 4 Report: 1 January – 31 March 2019 and Annual Review 2018- 2019 (Report attached)
32. Any Other Notified Business.
MEMBERSHIP OF REGENERATION AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
Alderman Menagh Councillor Douglas Alderman McDowell Councillor Dunlop Alderman Smith Councillor Gilmour Councillor Adair Councillor Kennedy Councillor Armstrong-Cotter Councillor McClean Councillor Blaney Councillor McKim Councillor Brooks Councillor Walker Councillor Cummings Councillor Wilson
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ITEM 3
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development Committee
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Economic Development Service
Date of Report 25 April 2019
File Reference ED55
Legislation
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Not Applicable ☐
Subject Ards and North Down Economic Development Annual Activity Report 2018-19
Attachments Annual Summary Review
Ards and North Down Business Support Services The role of the Economic Development Section (ED) is to promote and encourage local economic growth. To encourage enterprise, growth and innovation ED provides a suite of support, projects, interventions and collaborations. Local businesses and entrepreneurs benefit from 1:1 confidential business advice, business intelligence service, signposting to other support agencies and workshops, advice sessions, networking opportunities and mentor-based programmes.
Throughout the year feedback from programmes and workshops is gathered along with the types of requests we would receive from businesses. The feedback provided informs the type of support services we offer. The services we offer supports the needs of our client base by providing knowledge and skills to support personal development of businesses and employee’s and positively impacting on the growth of our local businesses. Every year the Economic Development section carries out a survey in consultation with the 1,726 registered on its database to address their needs, priorities and issues for the coming year. The 2019 survey was
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Unclassified distributed in early May 2019. The annual survey together with the feedback provided from previous workshops and programmes informs the programme of activity delivered through our business support services.
This report provides an annual summary overview of the elements of the support services provided to local businesses between April 2018 and March 2019.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Council notes this report.
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CONTENT
PRE ENTERPRISE & NEW START
1 European Social Fund Projects (ESF) 2 Northern Ireland Business Start-Up Programme (NIBSUP)
GROWTH
3 Signal Business Support 3.1 Business Support Services – Advice & Research 2018-2019 3.3 Business Support Services – Information & Communication 2018-2019 3.3 Business Support Services – The Pinnacle Programme 2018-2019 3.4 Business Support Services – Unlocking Economic Growth Conference 2018-19 3.5 Sectoral Project 24 Gifted Fair 3.6 Sectoral – Food Business Development Programme 3.7 Social Enterprise – Additional Support 3.8 Youth Entrepreneurship – Grow Your Own Way and the Shared Education Programme 3.9 Summary of Business Growth Support Services
SUPPORT PROGRAMMES & EVENTS
4 SHINE Programme
5 GAP (Growth Achievement Programme)
6 AND Social Enterprise Programme 2018-2019 (ANDSEP)
7 Mind Body Business Activity Programme 2018-2019
8 SERC Colleges Food Education Programme
9 Job Fair 2018
FACILITY
10 Signal Facility
APPENDIX 1 – PINNACLE PROGRAMME PARTICIPANT TESTIMONIALS
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1 ESF Projects
The ED section supports three European Social Fund projects in the Ards and North Down area. • Exploring Enterprise – Enterprise Northern Ireland: Exploring Enterprise Programme is a pre-enterprise programme which seeks to support people who are considering self-employment as their route to enter and/or return to the labour market. The programme is a mixture of group training and one to one mentoring support. Participants do not need to have a specific business idea to join; the programme provides an insight into starting a business whilst allowing participants to work towards achieving the recognised CCEA Level I qualification in Understanding Business Enterprise. In addition, there will also be an emphasis with regards guiding and assisting individuals into and through the mainstream business support/further education options. From 1st April 2018 – 31st March 2019, 3 courses have been delivered in the Ards and North Down Borough Council area: • 2 delivered by North Down Development Organisation (Large Courses) • 1 delivered by Ards Business Centre (Small Course) Targets and progress to date- year 1
22012018/19 ANDBC Annual Status Target (Across 3 Courses) Number of Courses 3 3 delivered
Number of individuals 31 22 enrolled
Number of individuals 25 18 securing an (12 of these will accredited be externally qualification in moderated by Understanding CCEA in May Business Enterprise 2019) Number of individuals 10 10 obtaining employment / self- employment Number of individuals 3 6 into Further Education Training
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• The Verve Programme – the NOW Group
The NOW Group is a social enterprise that supports 540 people in Northern Ireland with learning disabilities/ difficulties/ASC gain jobs with a future.
• Employment Programme provides one-to-one specialist support to individuals to help them get the job they want and keep it. • A range of interventions to build clients capacity to engage in training, work placements, voluntary work and community / social activities. • Vocational and employability training delivered at appropriate levels.
The NOW Group continually scan workforce trends and the economic and political environments for opportunities for employment, up skilling and social engagement which will increase inclusion and wellbeing, leading to citizenship development and civic involvement for participants. Its work is also about social and community inclusion which leads to the people they work with having better health, a better education and a brighter future. Its services are continually evolving as a result of co- design, participant feedback and learning from projects.
Verve Programme targets and progress – Year 1
Progress 2018/19 Target to Date
Year 1 2018/2019
Participants Enrolled 32 45 Academy / Vocational Training 30 35 Participants moving into employment / voluntary jobs upon leaving the 14 25 programme Stakeholders Engaged with 65 72 Positive Progression Route for 70 100 Participants
• Stepping Stones to employment – Stepping Stones NI
Stepping Stones to Employment Programme delivered by Stepping Stones NI engages people with learning disabilities/difficulties and barriers to employment.
The programme targets: • The unemployed or economically inactive • People with learning disabilities, difficulties and barriers to employment who are unlikely to move into education, employment or training • People who have low or no qualifications. Page 5 of 25
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The programme offers the following in the Ards and North Down area:
• Skills Development and Hospitality Training: helping people tackle the barriers they face when looking for paid employment through the provision of innovative training courses. People with disabilities benefit from accredited and non-accredited courses delivered in a manner that suit the learning needs and abilities of participants through class based workshops. Practical skills are delivered through the Gatelodge Café in Ards. • Employability and Employment: providing assistance and support including careers guidance to participants seeking to find or keep employment or voluntary work through Employment Officers and Job Coaches.
Targets and Progress to date – Year 1
Progress to 2018/19 Target date No. of participants recruited 20 35 No. of participants in paid employment 2 2 No. progressing into education and or training 5 1 No. completing accredited units 10 42 No. of participants volunteering in the work place, obtaining work placements or completing work tasters 10 30
2 NI Business Start-Up Programme (NIBSUP) “Go-For-It”
The NI Business Start-Up Programme (NIBSUP) in 2018-19 is in second year of implementation. The programme aims: • To provide specific advice and capability to enable entrepreneurs to develop a credible and high-quality business plan • To maximise the overall number and quality of business start-ups • To deliver an accessible service open to all residents or those wishing to establish a business (over 18 or between 16 and 18 and not in full-time education) in the borough • To provide a flow of new businesses that will access further direct support from the Council and Invest NI Page 6 of 25
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• To effectively signpost all new business start clients to relevant support and advice services available through the network of enterprise development organisations servicing this customer base • To deliver an accessible service that complies with equality and diversity principles
The 3½ year 11 Council Northern Ireland Business Start-Up Programme commenced in September 2017. From April 2017 to March 2018, 138 business plans were completed with the job creation of 92 jobs. The percentage of jobs achieved versus the statutory target was 108%.
Outputs for financial year 2:
Programme Year 2 figures from April 2018 to March 2019 include:
• A total of 181 approved business plans completed by Ards Business Centre Ltd and NDDO Ltd. • A total of 111 jobs created
Marketing
A marketing campaign developed by Derry City and Strabane District Council, on behalf of the consortium, released at the start of the Programme in September 2017 comprised of radio adverts, television adverts, billboard adverts brochures, promotional material, websites, exhibition material and signage distributed throughout the province.
In addition to the existing marketing campaign the Economic Development section developed two case studies for publication in the local papers and Council websites to promote the Programme and newly established businesses that participated in the ‘Go-For-It’ Programme. Other marketing means included Ad walkers at events, a client survey, infographics videos to be used on the Council’s website and News E-Zines.
3 Business Support Services
3.1 Business Support Services – Advice and Research 2018-2019
From April 2018 - March 2019 businesses have sought the assistance of the business support team across a wide variety of topics. The assistance varies from signposting through to working on a longer term basis to help clients with marketing and business plans. The services have had the following take up:
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№ Clients / Service Projects Target Apr 18 - Mar 19 Business Advice 119 110
Market Research 115 110
3.2 Business Support Services – Information & Communication 2018-2019 In addition to the Business Advice and Research Service, the team supports businesses by keeping them updated on a variety of areas including: business support programmes, marketing and development opportunities, changes to legislation, and opportunities for grant funding and assistance.
No. Issued Information Service 2018 - 2019
Monthly 15 Business Newsletters
Thematic Business Ezines 49
As of 31st March 2019 the Economic Development unit had 1,726 subscribers to the online newsletter and email service and plans to engage further.
3.3 Business Support Services – The Pinnacle Programme
№ № № № Businesses Participants Businesses Participants Event Type attending attending Apr 17-Mar 18 Apr 18-Mar 19
75 (excluding Conference/ Flagship 52 72 57 staff and speakers) 62 Practical Sessions - - 70 (9 events) 69 21 Know How Modules 84 25 (6 events) (4 events)
Connect@SIGNAL 127 107 29 32 (Networking) (4 events) (2 events)
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1-1 Mentoring 118 118 119 119 Sessions
Craft & Visual Artist 10 10 11 11 Programme (5 events) (max per (3 events) (max per event) event)
- 11 14 ‘A Taste of Success’ - (6 events) (max per
event)
TOTAL 376 391 310 346
(Note: 1) Some companies attended more than one event and figures reflect each time they attended 2) A number of additional support initiatives were added during the year including the SERC College Food Education Programme held in place of the Loaves and Fishes Event, full details of these additional support interventions are contained below. 3) The above table excludes the additional support delivered via programmes such as SHINE, GAP, and ANDSEP. Full details of all support delivered in 2018-2019 is included within this report.
Participant testimonials are included in Appendix 1.
The results show a decrease in year-on-year. This is due to a smaller programme being delivered, with a specific digital theme. The programme started later than anticipated in 2018 due to a review of the services to be provided. The 2019-20 programme will be partly determined by the results of the annual survey and the specific needs highlighted in it.
Programme Income Generation The Programme of support generated the following income:
Target Actual Target Actual Income Generation 2017- 2017- 2018-19 2018-19 2018 2018 Modules & Programmes £2,200 £4,985.31 £4,200 £3,167.35
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The 2018-19 Pinnacle programme was much reduced compared to the one delivered during the previous year; the income was consequently lower.
3.4 Flagship ED Conference – ‘Unlocking Economic Growth’
This year’s annual conference event was ‘Unlocking Economic Growth’ held on the 5th March in the Clandeboye Lodge Hotel.
75 participants attended the conference to hear from two key note speakers: Sahar Hashemi, OBE, builder of the Coffee Republic Brand and Skinny Candy Brands and William Higham, CEO of ‘The Next Big Thing’. All attendees then chose three interactive business conversations to attend. These conversations focused on current trends and topics, including: Productivity, Skills and Apprenticeships, The Future of the Workplace, Social Media, Artificial Intelligence, The Power of Trends, Cyber Security and Brexit. The Council also offered a “get to know your Council” platform to give the opportunity to attendees to inquire about their services.
Feedback gained from the event was positive and included the following comments:
“The interactive sessions were fantastic. They were very engaging and offered lots of participation”
“Very informative and valuable information presented and distributed throughout all sessions.”
98% of attendees reported that the event was Excellent or Very Good.
Know How Modules
Four Know How Modules were held on the topics of “Digital Procurement in the ICT Sector”, “Mastering Google AdWords”, “Mastering Google Analytics” and “Marketing Campaign Planning”.
The overall level of satisfaction and the impact of knowledge acquired in the Know How Workshops 2018-19 as scored by attendees is as follows:
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Know How Modules Overall Satisfaction
Very Good Good 8% 7%
Excellent 85%
Overall 93% reported these events to be Excellent or Very Good.
In relation to the impact of this event, attendees reported the following anticipated outcomes:
Potential Impact Upon Business % of Respondents Impact Turnover 65% Improve Profitability 57% Affect Staffing Levels 35% Affect Productivity 50% Help to Expand the Business 66% Help to Enter New Markets 68% Improve Customer/Employee Relations 42% Increase Knowledge and Skills 75%
Practical Sessions
Nine practical sessions were held on digital and IT based programmes including Excel, Facebook, LinkedIn and Mailchimp. These sessions were provided for employers to upskill themselves and their employees. Over 60 businesses (70 participants) attended these sessions.
The accumulative overall satisfaction rate was reported as 90% Excellent or Very Good.
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In relation to the impact of these events, attendees reported the following anticipated outcomes: Potential Impact Upon % of Respondents Business Impact Turnover 43% Improve Profitability 54% Affect Staffing Levels 17% Affect Productivity 61% Help to Expand the Business 45% Help to Enter New Markets 30% Improve Customer/Employee 46% Relations Increase Knowledge and Skills 77%
Connect@Signal
Two Connect@Signal networking events were held on the topics of “Making Tax Digital” and “Get Ready for Brexit”.
These events offered businesses an insight into current topics and an opportunity to network with other local businesses.
Overall 96% reported that these events were Excellent or Very Good.
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Connect@Signal Overall Satisfaction Good 4%
Excellent 96%
3.5 Sectoral Support
Sectoral - Project 24 Business Support As part of their residency at Project 24, all visual artists in the project are entitled to business support. Alongside the various business support services offered, 11 artists availed of 1-1 business advice and support. As a result of this, a ‘mini’ programme of business support was provided as follows: • Instagram for Artists • Finance for Artists • Marketing Support Programme for Artists → Each artist received 1-1 mentoring with the trainer and produced a marketing action plan • Videography sessions for Artists → A 60 second promotional video was provided to each artist to use to market themselves
These short sessions touched on important topics and trends for artists to equip them with skills to further grow their business.
Overall, the artists reported their overall level of satisfaction with the support as 100% Excellent and rated the support as key to developing their business capacity.
Sectoral – Gifted Fair
The agreed aims of the project were to: • Develop export capacity and support business growth within the creative sector • Develop new markets and support additional sales for designer/makers • Profile the Creative economy in the Ards and North Down Borough.
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Key Activity Objective & Output Outcome Recruitment of Recruit 6 -12 3 makers recruited attendees – Craft (Maximum) Craft for the programme. Designer Makers Designer makers to The space available over the 4 days of attend the fair across at the fair versus the the fair the 4 days. cost would not have allowed more makers to participate. To generate sales To meet an agreed All targets exceeded and identify sales target over the makers’ projections. potential retail duration of their time outlets for sales at exhibiting. an international Grow customer base. Gift/Craft Fair (Specific targets will be agreed per Craft Designer Maker during Training) Achieve 2 new retail outlets 6 months’ post event. Recruit Deliver 3 training Two training trainers/facilitators sessions for the group sessions delivered, to deliver Export of Craft Designer preparation for the Training Makers in preparation fair, Marketing and for the fair on Marketing, pricing your product pricing your product for for an international an international market, market were and Stand Display. combined into one session. A second session focused on Merchandising. Invite tourism to Tourism to attend to Tourism attended 1 send a member of promote the Ards and day of the fair. staff to attend the North Down Borough. event. Evaluation An evaluation will be An immediate carried out directly after evaluation after the the event and again 3 event was months after the event completed. A final to ensure targets have evaluation in June been met. 2019 will take place.
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Training sessions were organised with Des Mulholland of Mulholland Social and Mags McAlpin of Creating Retail Magic. Due to the time constraints the three sessions were combined into two. Both of the sessions received 100% Overall satisfaction. One participant commented that “the training will have long term benefits” for her business.
The Fair took place from the 5th to the 9th of December 2018. Overall satisfaction for the event itself was 33% Excellent and 66% Very Good.
All of the initial objectives set for the programme have been met and the programme is still being monitored for final evaluation.
3.6 Sectoral – Food Business Development Programme
Food Programme “A Taste of Success”
The Economic Development Section developed the business support programme “A Taste of Success” in partnership with two delivery agents, Rosemary Morrison from Directus Training and Ashleigh Watson from Copper Square Communications.
The programme objectives;
• 6 workshops delivered in areas of; - strategic planning - marketing - digital management • Up to 16 food and drink businesses engaged in the programme • One hour 1-1 mentoring session for each participant that attended the workshops • Create a closed Facebook group to develop peer to peer relations and mentor support and to encourage future collaboration.
The programme commenced on Wednesday 22nd August with an introductory workshop followed by weekly workshops until Wednesday 26th September. All participants also had the opportunity to book a 1-hour mentoring session with the delivery agents depending on their needs for further support.
Each workshop included a guest speaker from the food and drink industry who provided a talk on how they developed their businesses to grow and succeed.
Feedback received from participants included the following comments:
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“Good sessions – whole programme has been great and flown by”.
“Very informative 6 weeks overall, and great to make new contacts, possible business potential”.
“Fantastic programme – as a new business, I found I got a lot out of this”.
3.7 Support for Social Enterprise Sector Supporting Social Enterprise falls under the duties transferred to Councils in 2015.
The aim of the annual Social Saturday initiative is to raise awareness of Social Enterprises. Social Enterprises are defined as “businesses that trade to address social problems, improve communities, people’s quality of life, or the environment. Their social mission is at the heart of everything they do and all profits are reinvested towards achieving these goals.”
Social Saturday In order to help raise awareness of this initiative, the Economic Development Section arranged the following promotions:
Online Media A social media ‘Spotlights’ campaign was created to promote Social Saturday and local social enterprises. This campaign ran from 7th October to 11th October. The Economic Development Section contacted social enterprises across the borough and invited them to take part in this initiative. Five social enterprises took part and promoted their services and/or any special offers they had for Social Saturday.
Social Souk The Economic Development Section facilitated a “Social Souk” event at Bloomfield Shopping Centre on Friday 12 October (the day before Social Saturday). This event gave 7 local social enterprises the opportunity to raise awareness of their products/services and the associated benefits they bring to the Borough.
Social Directory The Ards and North Down Social Enterprise Directory, was launched last year at the Social Souk event. The Directory highlights a selection of local Social Enterprise and Community Interest ventures in the Borough. The Directory is the first of its kind in Northern Ireland and is circulated throughout the Borough to raise awareness of the many worthwhile and successful social enterprises that operate within the local area.
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An updated version of the directory was produced for this year’s Social Souk, with three additional listings. Currently 23 local enterprises are listed.
In addition to the Directory and Promotional events, Ards and North Down was one of the first councils to offer a comprehensive Social Entrepreneurship programme – ANDSEP which is covered under Section 6 of this report.
3.8 Youth Entrepreneurship – Grow Your Own Way and the Shared Education Project.
Over 100 post-primary pupils from across Ards and North Down took part in a Youth Entrepreneurship event “Grow Your Own Way” at Bangor Aurora Leisure Centre, in November. The participating schools were: Glenlola Collegiate, Bangor Academy, Glastry College, St.Columbanus, SERC, Nendrum and Rockport.
The event was organised by Ards and North Down Borough Council to mark Global Entrepreneurship Week. The practical and interactive workshop aimed to promote entrepreneurship as a career option to post-primary and local college students. At this event, students heard from Phillip Bain, one of Northern Ireland’s leading entrepreneurs and CEO of Shredbank. Students also put their entrepreneurial talents to the test by planning and creating a tourism business idea and presented it to their peer group. Alongside developing important transferrable skills, this practical workshop inspired and motivated students on the importance of entrepreneurship and product design.
Overall, 100% reported that the event was Excellent offering insights to possible career paths.
The Shared Education Project was run by Young Enterprise NI and funded by the ED Section and provided 30 students from 3 schools across Ards Peninsula, 10 students from each school with the opportunity to work together to set up their own business. The 30 students were from Glastry College, Ballyhalbert, Strangford College, Carrowdore and St Columba’s Portaferry. The programme outcomes were for students to explore their entrepreneurial talent whilst developing their employability skills. Each of the students were introduced to the world of business, its challenges and enhanced their softer skills in team work, communication, presentation skills, confidence, problem solving and financial management.
The programme consisted of the students working together over 3 days to set up and run their own company finishing with a sales trade fair event on 22nd March 2019 in Ards Shopping Centre. The students were split into 5 different companies, each made up of 2 students from each school to work together in setting up their own business idea, products, assigned team roles. The groups got to hear from Emma Harrison from Graham Construction and Norman McBride from Hastings Hotels,
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Emma talked about her job and importance of teamwork and Norman gave advice on how to create their corporate identity and marketing strategy. The students then prepared for the trade fair by creating their displays, training on delivering good customer service and presentations for the Dragons Den.
The trade fair was hosted by Ards Shopping Centre where the students got to trade to the general public. he students generated total sales of £215 from the trade fair. The final element of the programme was for students to present their business to a panel of judges with students receiving certificates from the Mayor in areas of excellence.
The main outcome of the programme was the 100% skills and knowledge gain, by the students, on setting up and running a a business by undertaking a hands-on project over a period of months, taking an idea from concept to commercial reality.
3.9 Summary of Business Growth Support Services • From April 2018-19 the Pinnacle Programme has engaged with and assisted more than 310 local businesses
• The average overall satisfaction level for events, as rated by participants, was over 90% Excellent or Very Good and positive impact on business development averaging approx. 57%.
4 SHINE Programme
The SHINE Programme is Ards and North Down Borough Council’s principal business support and growth programme. The SHINE programme is part funded by Invest Northern Ireland and the European Regional Development Fund under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Northern Ireland (2014-2020) programme and the Council has been offered up to £274,760 to deliver the programme. The programme was procured through CPD in October 2018 and Brilliant Red was notified of their appointment in January 2019. SHINE will run until December 2022. The programme provides one to one specialist business advice and tailored workshops to take businesses to the next level of growth. The programme launched on 26th February 2019 to the local business community and created much interest, generating up to 25 enquiries. The programme was initially promoted through the creation and production of information flyers, pull-up stands, a press release in mid-March 2019 in both local newspapers and a bus ads campaign.
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ED Officers worked in partnership with Corporate Communications and Directus, the Marketing Delivery Agent, on a social media campaign on the council Facebook and a LinkedIn campaign. To date, the programme has recruited 23 applicants and a further 9 applications have been received recently to be reviewed. It is anticipated that the programne will recruit 330 applicants over the 3.5 years of implementation and that 280 jobs will be created as a result.
5 GAP Growth Achievement Programme
It is commonly recognised that the first three years of a business’s life are the most critical to survival. In order to give our new starts the best chance of creating a sustainable business the GAP Programme was designed. It provides provides a mentoring and workshop programme of support for early stage businesses with growth potential, across Ards and North Down. The Programme is based around meeting the individual needs of local businesses which have established their businesses within the last three years and newly created businesses that have progressed through the Northern Ireland Business Start-Up Programme “Go For It”, demonstrating that the business is a scalable and growth potential.
The programme was launched in January 2019 with Cohort 1 seeing the allocation of 18 mentoring places and Cohort 2 launched in February 2019 with the allocation of 12 places. The programme mentoring session with completed Action Reports for each participant will be completed by June 2019.
All key targets and milestones have been met as outlined below.
GAP Targets
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Key Activity Objective & Output Outcome To assist in the To recruit 30 30 businesses capacity and businesses/participants recruited onto capability building of onto the programme. programme businesses (year 1 to 3 of trading) with Target Achieved a view to increase turnover and profit. To provide one-to- 30 participant businesses End of programme one mentoring receiving a maximum of June 2019 support on topics 10 hours tailored impacting business mentoring over the start-up and course of the programme. development including specialist topics where necessary To improve To deliver 5 4 workshops knowledge of the workshops/interventions delivered 1 more to programme to be defined as agreed be completed on participants in key and according to the 22nd May 2019 business areas needs of the participants.
To support Up to 30 action plans Work in progress participants to delivered on completion develop a three- of workshops and year action plan mentoring advice. To contribute to 25 new jobs created by Job targets wealth generation participating companies reviewed up to and job creation in within 18 months of the March 2021 the Borough end of the programme.
6 AND Social Entrepreneurship Programme
The Ards and North Down Social Entrepreneurship Programme (ANDSEP) aims to assist individuals and groups to start-up a social business, encourage existing social enterprises to grow, create related employment and maximise a positive impact on society.
Programme Outputs
Objectives Targets Current Status Number of groups per annum 15 On track - 12 recruited to date participating in the introductory and and receiving 1-1 mentoring investigatory phase @ 2.5 days one-to- Applications sent out to three one mentoring per client other interested parties Number of groups per annum 10 On track – 10 recruited to date participating in the core capability and receiving 1-1 mentoring phase and completing a full business support Page 20 of 25
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plan @ 4 days one-to-one mentoring per client Number of groups per annum 10 On track – 2 recruited to date participating in the post start strategic and receiving 1-1 mentoring mentoring @ 1-day one-to-one It is envisaged that a number of mentoring per client clients on ‘Core’ will progress to this stage Number of modular workshops in year 10 (5 per On track - 4 modular workshops 1 and 2 annum/ delivered to date. Workshop 5 cohort) scheduled for Thursday 30th May 2019 in Signal Centre Group/enterprise annual turnover in £180,000 On track - £238,000 (based on year 1 Sustainable Social Enterprise BP projections and submitted Ventures established in year 1 (total applications) composite value) SEE ABOVE REPEAT, Year 2 £420,000 On track Number of jobs created in year 1(core) 20 On track -10 to date + 5 projected within 3-6 months
Number of jobs created in combined 35 On track - 10 to date + 5 years 1 to 2 projected within 3-6 months Number of new products/services 15 On track - 7 to date developed (core and post Start) in year 1 to 2 Average combined funding levered £250,000 In progress - A number of through existing sources of funding clients have submitted funding (grants, gift aid/awards and loans) for applications and are awaiting year 1 to 2. outcome
7 Mind Body Business
Mind Body and Business is a joint initiative by the Public Health Agency, in conjunction with Ards and North Down Borough Council that aims to promote health and wellbeing in the workplace. Economic Development, Environmental Health and Ards Leisure Centre worked collectively in developing a programme of activities that included a wide range of physical and mental health activities. The number of businesses partaking in physical activity events was 39, 35 of these businesses engaged with the programme for the first time.
№ № № Businesses № Businesses Participants attending Participants Mind Body Business attending Apr 18-Mar 19 Event Type Apr 17-Mar 18
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313 Step Challenge 7 53 23 (including Staff)
Pickleball 2 20 3 18 Competition (7 Employees)
Gym Challenge 7 21 8 28
42 38 Health Checks 46 38 (6 Events) (3 Events)
Emergency First Aid 48 56 31 45 at Work (6 Events)
13 Information Session 15 4 13 (2 Events)
119 TOTAL 211 107 455 (14 Events)
8 SERC Food Skills Programme
The SERC Food Skills Programme was delivered in partnership with local food producers, restaurateurs, SERC’s Catering Department and our Economic Development Team. The main aims of the programme were to: • Ensure that Students know about the wide range of local produce • Ensure that students understand how our local food is produced • Ensure that students are aware of food sustainability issues, consider seasonality, food miles and use what is considered as waste in an imaginative manner • Use these products and learn how to prepare them in order to develop that sense of place needed to enhance the food/tourism awareness and reputation of the Borough • Work with the food and hospitality industry to develop unique menus with a sense of belonging • Allow students to develop a portfolio of local recipe as a tool to use when seeking employment • Give an opportunity to students to become food ambassadors for our region • Offer an opportunity to students to demonstrate the skills they have acquired by cooking with experienced chefs and learn from the best • Become part of the students’ curriculum and provide an additional competitive advantage when seeking employment. Page 22 of 25
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The Programme was delivered in four 4 strands as outlined in the table below.
ACTIVITY DETAIL No. of Participants Food Tours Tour Day 1 - 16th October 13 Flavour First and Glastry Farm
Tour Day 2 - 7th November 20 Clements Eggs and Corries Meats
Tour Day 3 - 12th December Rockabill and Echlinville 8 All producers include categories for the competition Demonstratio Location Dunleath Estate Ballywalter n Day Rescheduled DAY – Wednesday 20th 120 March 2019 10-3pm • Interactive demonstrations in specialist areas Street Food Cart SERC • Council Kitchen Trailer Paula McIntyre Demonstrations on; • Fermentation – Helen McCourt • Butter Churning - Kim Close • Fish filleting – Hal Dawson • Butchery – Corries Meat Farm • Cheese Making – Indie Fude • Green Egg – Pete Gough • Walled Garden – Dunleath Estate
Competition NO Applications received due to timing of this competition in line with internal 0 college competitions.
The competition was opened to all 5 regional colleges.
Gala Night Tuesday 26th March 2019 – Gala Night Cancelled due to receiving no 0 applications for the competition
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The College has fed back that this collaboration has helped to broaden the students’ exposure to commercial activity within the food sector, facilitated access to activities
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Unclassified that usually would not be on the standard curriculum and therefore has enhanced their learning experience. Learning from the programme will be taken on board in the planning of any further event and discussions will be conducted to assess the real appetite from students within the college for entering competition to demonstrate skills.
9 Jobs Fair 2018
The 2018 Job fair took place on 10 April 2018 at Marine Court Hotel Bangor. Three bus routes were also offered free of charge and promoted through the local Job Centres.
The job fair was marketed to those looking for a job as well as those considering a change in careers.
On the day attendees had the opportunity to avail of the following services:
• advice on improving prospects of finding employment • practical advice to assist individuals into work • opportunities to engage with employers • CV advice
Up to 40 employers participated in the event by offering over 700 jobs in a variety of sectors such as retail/sales, manufacturing/production, health & social care, hospitality and catering, finance, the Armed Forces, customer service, administration, IT and management.
The Exhibitors were companies such as BT Flex, Beannchor Group, Charles Hurst, Crossroads Care NI, Eventsec, Portaferry Hotel and Positive Futures. A full list is attached in Appendix 1.
A summary of the attendees and outcomes can be seen below:
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Feedback from a number of the support agencies and one of the employers are articulated below:
“It was great to see a steady stream of visitors who possessed the exact skills and attitude we were looking for. It is certainly an event we will continue to be part of in the future as an exhibitor.”
“The Department was delighted to work in partnership with the Council at the recent Job Fair in Bangor. It was great to welcome so many attendees through the doors, showcasing to them the huge variety of jobs on offer, helping to make connections and access advice, and potentially be successful in securing a job.”
“We collected several contact details of those interested in our roles”
10 Signal Facility
2017 – 2018 2017 – 2018 2018 – 2019 2018 – 2019 TARGET ACTUAL TARGET ACTUAL OFFICE RENTAL £7,000 £5,651 £7,000 £6,460 (inc Virtual Office) CATERING £19,000 £32,782 £19,000 £34,415 ROOM HIRE & £30,000 £45,705 £30,000 £58,117 AV POSTAGE £600 £507 £200 £712
PHOTOCOPYING £200 £367 £600 £445 TOTAL £56,800 £85,012 £56,800 £100,149
2017-2018 2018-19 Complementary Usage (officer £11,964 £10,953.14 meetings)
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Appendix 1: ED Annual Activity 2018-19 Participant Testimonials
Practical Sessions:
“Learning how to set up and design an email to promote our promotions and new products in general was very useful!” – Mailchimp training participant “Extremely useful to get hands on experience using LinkedIn” – LinkedIn training participant
Know How Modules:
“Really useful content for a novice at Marketing” – Marketing Campaign Planning participant
Connect@Signal
“Both presentations were excellent and useful. The event was very well done” – Get Ready for Brexit Information session participant
Grow Your Own Way Event:
“The entrepreneurial speech was excellent and pitched at just the right level for the cohort!” – Teacher who attended schools event Unclassified
ITEM 4
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development Committee
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Economic Development Service
Date of Report 14 May 2019
File Reference
Legislation N/A
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:
Subject Digital Projects Update Report on: Local Full Fibre Network Project (LFFN); Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN); ERDF Digital Growth Programme and AND Digital Strategy
Attachments Appendix 1: BDUK – Northern Ireland Roadshow Agenda
As Members are aware the digital sector is highlighted in the Integrated Strategy as one of the areas to focus and support in order to grow the economy and work towards increasing the GVA of Ards and North Down.
To implement the actions of the Strategy the post of Creative and Digital Development Officer was created in January 2019. A variety of digital projects are now at different stages of development and this report provides an update and status on the work being done.
A review of all digital related projects and programme are detailed below:
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LFFN Programme Update
Further to the report submitted to Council on 7 March 2019, regarding the national funding scheme offered by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) under the Wave 3 programme to support the roll out of Fast Fibre Networks, a final 10 Council Collaborative bid was presented to DCMS on 18 February 2019.
Background: What is LFFN? The Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme from the DCMS is designed to stimulate commercial investment in full fibre networks in rural and urban locations across the whole of the UK.
LFFN aims to: • Stimulate more commercial investment to deliver more gigabit-capable connectivity. • Directly maximise the availability and benefit of gigabit-capable broadband services to public sector, business and residential users. • Improve commercial investment conditions in local areas.
The aim of the LFFN scheme is to stimulate the telecoms market to invest in more fibre connectivity for homes, businesses and 5G masts.
It will have important long-term benefits. Although it is likely to directly improve availability of high bandwidth connectivity in some areas, its main effect will be felt more slowly through the commercial investment that will follow in time.
The LFFN Challenge Fund is a capital grant programme of up to £200m, delivered in competitive waves, to help deliver the fastest and most reliable digital communications network available. £95m remains to be allocated to projects in the remaining Wave 3 round.
What is FFNI? Full Fibre Northern Ireland (FFNI) is the name of the consortium responsible for a bid under Wave 3 which comprises of 10 Northern Ireland councils (all councils excluding Belfast City Council). Its formation was the result of information clearly indicating that this approach will deliver a better outcome for each council and NI as a whole. This approach also addresses strong indications that individual council bids were less likely to be successful.
Belfast City Council will continue to focus on the deployment of its Wave 2 funding, however, will support the consortium with advice and assistance.
The consortium has had fortnightly conference calls, ongoing emails and phone dialogue and met several times to discuss furthering the bid.
Conditional Letter of Offer As part of FFNI, Ards and North Down Borough Council have been successful in securing funding through the FFNI bid for £15million through the DCMS under the Wave 3 funding programme. This has resulted in £1,447,300 for capital expenditure
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Unclassified in the Ards and North Down area. The overall conditional offer from DCMS for £15million has been approved for the region.
Current Position Following the Phase 1 of the bid, for the Wave 3 funding application, the bid successfully passed the DCMS Commercial Panel on 15 January 2019 and the Investment Panel on 18 February 2019. A conditional offer was subsequently made by DCMS. The FFNI consortium is now in receipt of the conditional letter of offer and verbal confirmation has been received confirming that all the initial conditions have been met and the letter of offer is expected shortly.
Phase 1 (to be completed by March 2021) comprises:
£15million DCMS funds. (£527K goes towards operational team costs, leaving £14,473,000 for the FFNI consortium resulting in £1,447,300 for each council).
• 880 sites which includes most council sites and a range of primary schools. (of which Ards and North Down Borough Council area has approximately 55 sites).
There may be further phases, with additional funding, but the timing and scope has yet to be clarified DCMS. A further report will be brought to Council on any additional agreements.
Consortium Collaboration Agreement The Consortium Collaboration Agreement between all ten partner Councils has now been viewed by Belfast Legal Services and DCMS, and is now being reviewed at consortium level by each individual council. Following review by Council legal services it will be presented for signing.
Procurement Work is now underway to confirm the site selections for procurement. This will be discussed by representatives from the consortium partners during monthly operations group meetings.
Summary The FFNI bid has been successful and resulted in a conditional letter of offer.
In order for the FFNI consortium to progress to the next DCMS stage – ‘Checkpoint A’ the consortium was required to meet two conditions:
1. Produce a Consortium Collaboration Agreement. 2. Release a DCMS approved press release regarding the announcement of the successful bid.
Both these conditions have been met and ‘Checkpoint A’ has been reached.
Preparations for specification writing and a procurement exercise can now take place. Page 3 of 8
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The consortium host council (Newry Mourne and Down District Council) has issued a Prior Information Notification (PIN) to the market which includes an invitation to a market information day scheduled for the 20 May 2019 in Downshire Civic Centre, Downpatrick. This full day information event will inform suppliers of the consortium’s objectives and upcoming procurement exercise.
A DCMS roadshow (also called the Broadband UK Roadshow) is planned for the 19 June 2019, at the Civic Centre in Craigavon. The event agenda and registration details, should Members wish to attend, are attached in Appendix 1.
LPWAN Project
Background At Council, on 31 January 2018, it was agreed that Ards and North Down Borough Council would participate in the LPWAN/LoRA project.(Low Power Wide Area Network/Long Range). A consortium called Things Connected NI, led by Ulster University, Invest NI, Tourism NI and 9 local Councils across Northern Ireland was successful in bidding to be one of the funded networks to deploy the technology across Northern Ireland to accelerate the demand and innovation of industrial Internet of Things (IoT).
LPWAN Project Update Following on from the previous report, the technology has been rolled out across Northern Ireland, and Ards and North Down has received the gateways/base stations to be installed throughout the borough. The technology is free to use and available to Internet of Things entrepreneurs and developers to prototype, test and scale-up Internet of Things ideas. It is hoped that the provision of the network will encourage the deployment of sensors, applications and services and enable businesses to develop exciting and innovative Internet of Things products and services.
Challenge Fund – Stage One A Challenge Fund was launched to accelerate growth in Internet of Things technology. The Challenge Fund was launched accelerate growth in Internet of Things technology and evaluated on 11 September 2018. The evaluation panel consisted of Council officers from the partner Councils, Ulster University and InvestNI. Two businesses from the Ards and North Down area passed the criteria and were eligible to avail of the funding from stage one of the Challenge Fund. This initial contribution facilitated the businesses to “work up” their proposals with a view to additional funding being available at stage two. The concept areas being wotked on by the two businesses are: smart building development and transport monitoring.
Challenge Fund - Stage Two update Stage one of the project has allowed both businesses to work up their prototypes with a view to modifying their devices to reach their full potential. On going monitoring is carried out to ensure progress against plans. Assessment of projects’ progress by the University of Ulster and other Council partners took place on 28 March 2019.
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Officers are pleased to report that the two businesses have been successful in obtaining demonstrating progress in the developmental work and therefore are eligible for remaining funding under the scheme to progress their initiatives further, in terms of refining and widening their potential use.
LPWAN Network The original purpose of the project was to help establish a regional LoRaWAN network in Northern Ireland that was free to use and provide a testbed to support evolving IoT technologies. The Challenge fund made available to local SMEs encouraged the development of IoT and use of the free network. Council’s funding role in this project is now complete.
The future of the network for the coming year has been secured with funding coming from Digital Catapult. Council will continue to promote the LPWAN network which remains free to use.
ERDF Digital Growth Programme
Background It is recognised that SME’s are vital to the growth of the NI economy and in order to support their growth Ards and North Down Borough Council has partnered with Newry Mourne and Down District Council in a collaborative bid for ERDF funding, under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Programme (2014-2020) to support a digital development programme. The aim of the programme is ultimately to provide Digital training and support to small and medium sized businesses within the two Council areas, who, with the right support, advice and assistance, are capable of productivity and employment growth.
The Letter of Offer has now been received for this programme and an agreement between the two councils will be drawn up to deliver the programme which will run until 2022.
Proposal The programme will offer businesses digital based mentoring and relevant digital based business growth workshops, which will provide knowledge transfer and skills development. The topics to be addressed will be identified following a baseline needs analysis with client businesses upon initial contact. These workshops will be available to businesses in receipt of mentoring support, and will offer additional support to boost business growth and employment creation potential.
Aims • To advance the digital growth potential and employment creation potential of small businesses located within the two Council areas. • Support the creation of new and sustainable jobs within the Council areas. • Provide accessible and need driven business support that will advance the economic performance in the Council area. • To develop the Council’s linkages with the Business Community. • To develop collaborative working relationships with other Business Support Agencies. Page 5 of 8
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Targets Key outputs of the programme are as follows: • Lead Council to procure delivery agent for Digital Growth Programme. • To recruit at least 260 businesses onto Digital Growth Programme by 30 September 2022. • Deliver a minimum of 630 days (4,410 hours) 1:1 mentoring to at least 260 participating businesses by 31 December 2022. • Deliver at least 18 one-to-many half day Digital Growth workshops (with a minimum of 15 participants) by 31 December 2022. • Deliver at least 4 Master Class Events by 31 December 2022 (with a minimum of 25 participants). • To produce a mid-term evaluation after 18 months of programme delivery. • To produce a final programme evaluation by 30 June 2023 measuring job creation and referrals to Invest NI. • Councils to ensure robust systems of reporting are implemented to capture baseline jobs and new jobs created within each participating business.
Programme Budget Total project budget £250,500 ERDF (60%) £150,300 Invest Northern Ireland (20%) £50,100 Newry Mourne and Down District Council (12%) £30,060 North Down and Ards Borough Council (8%) £20,040
Project Costs The net cost to Council will be £20,040 (£6,680 per year for 3 years), which is based on pro-rata targets, and will be met from existing budgets.
Further update reports will be made to Council as the project develops.
Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme
Background The Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme is part of the Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme. Funded through the Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) it has the strategic objective of increasing full fibre coverage across the UK.
Starting in late 2017, the programme launched the first wave of its programme, designed to test its approach to market stimulation. £10m was allocated to the launch of five pilot projects across the country, including £2m on a market test for the voucher scheme. The national launch of the scheme has been designed to build on the lessons learned from our market test.
Full fibre broadband connections offer the fastest and most reliable speeds available, and the government is committed to a vision of a full fibre Britain. As part of this commitment in March 2018, DCMS announced our £67m Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme.
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Current Position Gigabit vouchers can be used by small businesses and the local communities surrounding them to contribute to the installation cost of a gigabit-capable connection. Businesses can claim up to £2,500 against the cost of connection either individually or as part of a group project. Residents can benefit from the scheme with a voucher worth £500 as part of a group project. Council officers ensure our businesses are kept up to date with the scheme and work to encourage take-up where other schemes may not meet their needs.
Up to the end of March 2019, there have been 7,909 successful voucher applications in the UK. The breakdown per Council area in Northern Ireland is shown in the table below:
Connected Pipeline Gigabit Vouchers Numbers Value Numbers Value Breakdown UK 7909 £18,678,000 9310 £19,813,654 Northern Ireland 498 £1,406,129 532 £1,417,088 Ards and North Down 40 £112,377 62 £175,391 Antrim and Newtownabbey 62 £180,127 18 £48,900 ABC 107 £315,766 38 £101,268 Belfast 97 £280,470 118 £321,171 Causeway Coast and Glens 17 £45,930 96 £250,625 Derry City and Strabane 1 £1,600 55 £129,413 Fermanagh and Omagh 19 £49,600 42 £106,675 Lisburn and Castlereagh 73 £199,767 25 £70,684 Mid and East Antrim 21 £62,299 56 £155,194 Mid Ulster 43 £112,693 8 £21,766 Newry, Mourne and Down 18 £45,500 14 £36,000
Digital Strategy
Background The Integrated Tourism, Regeneration and Economic Development Strategy 2018- 2030 (ITRDS) recognised that in order to grow the local economy some of the areas that need to be addressed are: digital connectivity and the digital transformation and use of technology within our businesses. The ITDRS highlighted the need for a Digital Strategy for the Borough, this was agreed as a key action within the Economic Service Unit Plan for the current year.
Through a quotation process GreySky Consultants were appointed in March. Work has now got underway and will address digital connectivity across the borough, with reference to the other projects ongoing in this area. It will also address the needs of the businesses within the digital sector while investigating use of new technologies to transform business.
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On completion, expected in Autumn 2019, a further update report and recommendations will be brought to Council.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that Council: 1) Notes the report and BDUK Roadshow details. 2) Approves the collaboration with Newry, Mourne and Down District Council for the ERDF Digital Growth Programme.
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Appendix 1
Reserve your place here Please reserve one place per name so we can produce name badges for everyone – and please email us if you have any specific dietary requirements [email protected] venue: Craigavon Civic and Conference Centre, BT64 1AL Unclassified
ITEM 5
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Economic Development Service
Date of Report 25 April 2019
File Reference
Legislation
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:
Subject Economic Development Annual Conference: Unlocking Economic Growth
Attachments Appendix 1: Copy of the conference programme
The Economic Development Section delivered its annual conference entitled “Unlocking Economic Growth” on 5th March 2019 at the Clandeboye Lodge Hotel. The conference is an integral part of the section’s strategic communication and interaction with local businesses and stakeholders.
The conference, which was compered by Dr Wendy Austin MBE, was delivered in two distinct parts:
1. The plenary session including:
o An introduction from the Mayor o A review of the achievements to date of the Integrated Tourism Regeneration and Economic Development Strategy 2018-30 by the Chair of the Regeneration and Development Committee and the Director of Regeneration Development and Planning o A keynote speech by William Higham, Behavioural Futurist and Chief Executive at The Next Big Thing on how to anticipate and profit from changing customers’ behaviours
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o A Keynote speech by Sahar Hashemi, OBE, Builder of the Coffee Republic and Skinny Candy Brands, on the topic of Entrepreneurial Mindsets.
2. A series of Interactive Business Conversations to offer the delegates the opportunity to interact and discuss specific issues with an expert in a dynamic small group environment. The topics were as follows: o Better Workplaces, better productivity o Addressing the skills gap o Creating 21st Century town centres o The right culture for companies to innovate and grow o Employability and the new world of graduate recruitment o The power of trends o Cyber security o Brexit planning.
Six public-facing sections of the Council were also represented at the conference to give the opportunity to delegates to “Get to Know your Council”. o Economic Development and North Down Development Organisation o Licencing o Planning o Environmental Health o Tourism o Recycling.
Assessment and feedback:
The conference was well attended with 75 businesses (+ staff, speakers and facilitators) contributing on the day.
The level of satisfaction for the plenary session Guest Speakers was as follows:
5 4 3 2 1 Please score the following: Very Excellent Good Average Poor Good 1a. Speaker content & delivery of topic: 75% 23% 2% William Higham - Keynote Speaker 1 1b. Speaker content & delivery of topic: 93% 7% Sahar Hashemi – Keynote Speaker 2
The delegates felt that the speakers were inspirational and provided a lot of food for thought. They stated that the Council had selected excellent and thought-provoking speakers who made them re-think the way they see and run their business. Others commented that it was very useful to meet business owners and representatives from agencies to hear from them and their services.
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The interactive Business Conversations were a new feature of the conference and offered the delegates the opportunity to choose three topics from the above mentioned list (in point 2) and join the discussion with an expert for a 20 minutes’ slot for each chosen topic.
The feedback on these sessions was very positive and participants stated that it was very useful to listen to others’ point of view and to talk with individual experts in their own field. They also enjoyed the open discussion and thought that the process was very engaging although all thought that more time for each topic would have been beneficial and would have allowed for better development of discussions.
The conference concluded with a question and answer session with all the experts and speakers managed by Wendy Austin.
Conclusion and comments:
The conference was clearly well received by the business community. In order to take learning for future events delegates were asked how this event could be further improved.
The following comments should be considered: • Longer interactive sessions as 20 minutes was too short to explore the topics • A choice of more interactive sessions • A half day for interactive sessions only • Make conference longer to allow discussion to flourish and opportunity for networking.
The delegates were also asked to provide a general comment on the Conference and the following were provided:
• “Very professional organisation by ANDBC – well done” • “Overall time well spent, well done to the organisation” • “Well organised, warm welcome, excellent opportunity to take time and refresh” • “Very informative and valuable information presented and distributed through all sessions” • “Use the format and do more of the same”.
The fact that companies stated that their time was well spent is in itself a factor of success as time is precious for all companies. Only a high quality event will encourage businesses to attend and Ards and North Down Borough Council must build on the success of this conference to reinforce its relationship with the local business community and be seen as a key partner in business development and support.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Committee notes the content of the report.
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ITEM 6
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Economic Development Service
Date of Report 15 May 2019
File Reference To be confirmed
Legislation
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:
Subject GCSE Support Revision Programme
Attachments
Background
Building upon the highly successful Easter School operating in West Belfast for over 20 years, Ards and North Down Borough Council has been approached by Belfast City Council as it is currently exploring extending this provision outside the city. The intention of the project would be to engage young people (Year 12) who have the potential to achieve GCSE in grade C in English and Maths but who are at risk of not achieving.
Changing labour market dynamics highlights the growing trend by employers for high skilled labour; in the future less than 1 in 10 jobs will be available to people with Level 2 attainment or below. Significant growth opportunities are at Levels 3 and above, and as our Integrated Strategy outlines, we wish to be proactive in ensuring that our resident population can access these jobs; reliance on commuting diminishes and employers can access a local skilled labour force.
The Economic Development Section has approached the schools in the Borough, where GCSE levels of achievement from A* to C in Maths and English falls below 50% of the regional average, in order to assess their interest in the programme.
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Two schools have responded: Strangford Integrated College and Nendrum College, stating their strong interest in participating in the programme.
Key elements of the suggested programme are as follows:
Easter School delivery
• 4 days’ duration in both GCSE English and Maths • Expected support for approx. 50 pupils in the Ards and North Down Borough Council area Additional optional elements
• Half-Term session (1.5 days) • Twilight revision classes – in identified communities (20 weeks per GCSE Subject Cohort) Outcomes expected
The expected outcomes for the project would be as follows: • 45% of young people to maintain their GCSE Grade C • 55% young people improving on their projected grade to a GCSE Grade C or higher • Increase in numbers of young people accessing training and apprenticeship opportunities • Increased return rate to school / further education and/or employment • Reduced risk of young people becoming NEET and/or getting involved in anti- community activity. The impact of this investment would be measured in August following the completion of each academic year, when GCSE attainment levels are released.
Proposed timeline
• On-going discussions (April – May 2019) with Belfast City Council to determine the content of the tender to recruit a suitable delivery agent for this 3-year programme • Tender to be issued in June 2019 for a project start in September 2019.
If endorsed by the Council the project would be expected to achieve the following in Year 1:
• Identification and Recruitment – Term 1 (Sept-Dec 2019) • Half-Term School – Feb 2020 • Easter School – April 2020.
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June Commencement of Project 2019 Term 1 Identification and Recruitment Twilight Revision identification and Sept- – Schools and Participants commencement Dec 2019 Term 2 Half Term School (Optional) Twilight revision delivery Feb 2020 April Easter School Twilight revision delivery 2020 4 days 3 locations (max in the Borough) August Results and Report on 2020 Outcomes
The project would straddle two financial years under the proposed format, however, it is expected that the timescale for delivery might be flexible and fit with the schools’ revision programmes.
Costs
Based on the participation of two schools and an average of 50 pupils at approximately £400 per individual, it is estimated that the programme would cost between £15,000 and £20,000 per year over three years (including management costs).
Other Councils such as Antrim Newtownabbey and Lisburn and Castlereagh have also expressed their support for the programme and will be part of the process which will help to reduce procurement costs.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Council agrees to proceed with this project at an approximate cost of £15,000 to £20,000 per annum over three years from existing budgets.
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ITEM 7
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development Committee
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Economic Development and Tourism Service
Date of Report 25 April 2019
File Reference ED63
Legislation
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Not Applicable ☐
Subject SERC Food Skills Programme
Attachments
BACKGROUND
Ards and North Down Borough Council’s Economic Development Section worked in collaboration with the South Eastern Regional College (SERC) catering department in delivering the SERC Food Skills Programme for catering students. The ED team and SERC also worked in partnership with local food producers, regional and local chefs, restaurateurs and other food supply services in providing a comprehensive programme. The programme was built on the existing relationships that have been established over the last few years between the above-mentioned partners. The programme offered catering students an opportunity to expand on their current learning and skills to enhance their employability.
SERC FOOD PROGRAMME AIM:
The programme’s aims were to: • Ensure that students know about the wide range of local produce • Ensure that students understand how our local food is produced • Ensure that students were aware of food sustainability issues, considered seasonality, food miles and use of what is considered as waste in an imaginative manner
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• Use of local produce and learn how to prepare in order to develop the sense of place needed to enhance the food/tourism awareness and reputation of the Borough • Allow students to develop a portfolio of local recipes as a tool to use when seeking employment • Give an opportunity to students to become food ambassadors for our region • Offer an opportunity to students to demonstrate the skills they have acquired by cooking with experienced chefs and learning new skills from the best • Become part of the students’ curriculum and provide an additional competitive advantage when seeking employment.
SERC FOOD PROGRAMME TARGETS WERE AS FOLLOWS:
The Programme was delivered in four 4 strands as outlined below:
1. Delivery of Food Tours to showcase local producers by hosting a 3-day interactive food tour using up to 6 local food and drink companies from October to December 2018. 2. Delivery of a one-day event of specialist demonstration in Ballywalter Estate in areas such as fish filleting, (meat) butchery, fermentation, cheesemaking, butter making and cooking demonstrations involving the NI Further Education Colleges’ catering students. 3. Invite catering students from the five regional colleges to enter a recipe competition. The competition’s aim: to showcase students’ knowledge and skills of local and regional ingredients by creating a starter, fish, main (meat), dessert and bread recipe. 4. A Celebration event and presentation awards ceremony to offer competition winners the opportunity to cook their winning dishes for the local food producers, chefs and food industry people involved in the programme, hosted in The Birches SERC restaurant.
Target % increase Knowledge: 70% Skills: 70% Employability: 70% (will be measured after graduation).
SERC FOOD PROGRAMME OUTPUTS:
Tour Day 1 - 16th October 2018 visit to Flavour First and Glastry Farm: William Donnan gave students a tour of the family farm and walk of vegetable fields and polytunnels, showcasing homegrown farmed fruit and vegetables, their veggie boxes, vending machine and their new “innovate ready to cook” product range. Glastry Farm gave a presentation on the background of the farm and how it progressed into a well renowned luxury ice-cream business. Students were able to view the ice- cream facility and bring home samples of the award-winning ice-cream.
Tour Day 2 - 7th November 2018 visit to Clements Eggs and Corries Meats: Philip Clements gave a guided tour of their family run facility where they produce, pack and distribute award-winning free-range eggs throughout NI.
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Corries family run farm based in Newtownards gave the students an insight into cattle farming, butchery demonstration and processing. The students were given the opportunity to make burgers and sausages.
Tour Day 3 - 12th December 2018 visit to Cully & Sons and Echlinville: Low numbers of students attended due to bad weather on the day and the age restriction of 18 for the visit to Echlinville Distillery. Dave Cully from Cully & Sons started the tour with a visit of the changing room to see how hygiene procedures are carried out, followed by a demonstration and talk on fish filleting and the fishing industry in Portavogie. The students also visited the smoke house. Lunch was then provided at Echlinville Distillery where students were given the tour of the distillery and shown the process of distilling. They also visited the cask maturation warehouse.
Demonstration Day at Dunleath Estate Ballywalter – the original date was scheduled for 21st November 2018, however the event had to be rescheduled, because of the stormy weather, to Wednesday 20th March 2019.
The demonstration event showcased and demonstrated to students how to use produce and learn how to prepare food for them to become food ambassadors for our region. Students were fully involved in the interactive demonstrations in specialist areas such as making their own butter, fermenting vegetables. They were shown how to fillet several kinds of fish and attended a demonstration on butchering a half lamb and deboning and stuffing chickens. The demonstration food was then cooked and prepared on SERC Food truck and served for lunch. Paula McIntyre also provided cooking demonstrations, using local produce from Flavour First and Cully’s fish processor.
Recipe Competition - the competition entries were sent to the 5 regional catering colleges week commencing 14 January 2019 with a deadline for entries of 28 February 2019. The colleges responded to say they would not be entering as there had been low interest on the part of students.
Gala Night – The Gala Night which was supposed to reward the competition winners was therefore cancelled.
Summary and evaluation:
A total of 161 students participated in the tours and demo day. Feedback from students indicated that: • 96% Improved their knowledge in understanding of local produce • 98% increased their skills as part of their catering course • 98% gained a new understanding of local producers in ANDBC • 86% of the students were either very or extremely satisfied
The programme was a great success despite the cancellation of the competition and gala dinner. Many of food producers, demonstrators, students and college lecturers commented that the programme was excellent, interactive and well organised. It gave students the opportunity to learn new skills to help them with their future careers in the food and drink industry.
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The Economic Development Section will meet shortly with SERC to re-assess the need and appetite for a joint programme aimed to address skills development. The programme has been run in this format for the past two years and a full review needs to be carried out to explore all other options available and how best we can deliver a programme to provide additionality on skills development.
RECCOMMENDATION
It is recommended that Council notes the report and agrees that Council further engages with the College to progress skills development across the borough.
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ITEM 8
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development Committee
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Regeneration Service
Date of Report 17 May 2019
File Reference REG 69
Legislation
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☐ No ☐ Not Applicable ☐
Subject Vacant Commercial Property Improvement Scheme
Attachments None
Background
Following the Environmental Improvement Schemes and revitalisation schemes that have been completed within the five town centres, the Department for Communities (DfC) presented the opportunity for the Council to apply for funding for a Vacant Commercial Property Improvement Scheme (VCPIS).
The purpose of this funding was to provide financial assistance to owners of vacant business properties, to carry out aesthetic improvements to the exterior of their buildings in order to enhance the opportunity to bring these properties back into use.
The Vacant Commercial Property Improvement was launched across the five town centres in November 2018 (via social media, newspaper advertising, email marketing, Chamber engagement and working closely with vacant property estate agents). The Scheme was available to landlords of commercial and retail properties located within the town centre boundary. The grant offered was to a maximum of £2,000 per property with a deadline for completion by 31st March 2019.
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Financial
Total Budget £35,547.60
DfC Funding £21,870.00
Council Contribution £6,000.00
Proprietor Contribution £7,677.60 (where the works exceeded the £2K grant)
Scheme Overview Property Works Description Total Grant Trader Address Works Cost Funding Contribution 8 Quay Application of £2,244.00 £1,870.00 £374.00 Street, window vinyls and Bangor exterior lighting. 8a High Repair and paint of £2,400.00 £2,000.00 £400.00 Street, exterior of building. Bangor 60/60A High Remove and replace £2,244.00 £2,000.00 £244.00 Street, signage. Repair Holywood damages to building (cracks, joints etc). Paint exterior. 1st Floor, 55 Remove existing £2,523.60 £2,000.00 £523.60 High Street, windows, make Bangor good surrounds and supply new pvc windows. Paint exterior. Ground Floor, Remove existing £2,406.00 £2,000.00 £406.00 55 High galvanised roller Street, shutter and extend Bangor guides and front signage box.
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1st Floor, 63 Remove existing £3,000.00 £2,000.00 £1,000.00 High Street, door and replace Bangor with new. 6 Holburn Supply and fit £3,450.00 £2,000.00 £1,450.00 Square, aluminium shop front Bangor door 61 High Remove existing £3,000.00 £2,000.00 £1,000.00 Street, door and replace Ground Floor, with new. Bangor Unit 3, High Paint exterior. £2,400.00 £2,000.00 £400.00 Street Plaza, Bangor Unit 7, High Replace front door. £2,580.00 £2,000.00 £580.00 Street Plaza, Bangor 76 High Supply and fit new £3,300.00 £2,000.00 £1,300.00 Street, shop front and door. Newtownards £29,547.60 £21,870.00 £7,677.60
Council Officers, working closely with DfC Officials, have delivered the VCPIS and the feedback received has highlighted that this type of programme has been very successful; providing grants to 11no proprietors within the Borough (1no Holywood, 1no Newtownards and 9no Bangor). Of these properties four have now been reoccupied.
The success of this scheme has now prompted DfC to consider a further roll out and any opportunity to extend this valuable project will be reported back in due course.
Recommendation It is recommended that the Council notes this report.
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ITEM 9
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development Committee
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Regeneration Service
Date of Report 17 May 2019
File Reference REG 63
Legislation
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☐ No ☐ Not Applicable ☐
Subject Redburn Square Revitalisation Scheme
Attachments None
Background
Following the completion of the Redburn Square Environmental Improvement Scheme, the Department for Communities (DfC) provided an allocation of funding for a Revitalisation Scheme. The purpose of this funding was to provide financial assistance to business owners who were affected by the works to carry out shop frontage improvements, to deliver a range of marketing activities, to provide promotional tools, all with the aim of increasing footfall within the town centre and to improve the visitor experience.
Following consultation with the Holywood Town Centre Steering Group, a prioritised Action Plan of projects was devised. The scheme commenced in June 2018, with a deadline of completion by 31st March 2019.
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Scheme Action Plan
Key Themes Initiative Summary DFC AND Trader Total Budget Budget Contribution Budget Organisation Key Steering Group N/A N/A N/A N/A Stakeholder Meetings held Meetings 23.07.18, 02.08.18, 12.11.18. Email update 21.01.19, 08.03.19 Agree Action Action Plan N/A N/A N/A N/A Plan agreed 02.08.18 Redevelopment, Shop-Front 4no properties £9,426.00 £0.00 £3,762.00 £13,188.00 Design & Improvement successfully Maintenance Scheme delivered shop frontage improvements to their business Christmas Item received £11,000.00 £0.00 N/A £11,000.00 Lighting and in place for Feature Christmas 2018. Improvement Improvement £1,982.80 £2,000.00 N/A £3,982.80 works at works completed Queens to include; new Leisure planting, wall Complex repainted and (carpark area tidied. boundary) Marketing and Shopping 3,000no £3,999.00 £0.00 N/A £3,999.00 Promotion Bags branded shopping bags produced and delivered. Distribution by Holywoood Chamber of Commerce. Google Virtual 4no businesses £1,750.00 £0.00 N/A £1,750.00 Tours completed - available live on google maps. Historical vinyl Electricity Unit £520.00 £0.00 N/A £520.00 wrap located in Redburn Square wrapped in vinyl, illustrated with historical photos of Redburn Square. Street Totem signage £2,158.33 £0.00 N/A £2,158.33 information to complement signage the existing signage in area. Detailing the historical areas
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of interest within the town.
Promotional Range of £4,997.50 £0.00 N/A £4,997.50 items promotional items purchased including pens, pencils, hand waver flags, wristbands, keyrings, badges etc Training Social Media 3no businesses £1,650.00 £0.00 N/A £1,650.00 Business received Training bespoke social media business training Monitoring Quantity QS appointed to £0.00 £2,000.00 N/A £2,000.00 Surveyor deliver shop frontage element of scheme. Progress Stage 1 issued £0.00 £0.00 N/A £0.00 Reports December 2018. Stage 2 issued February 2019. Stage 3/End Report issued March 2019. CPD Stage 1 issued £0.00 £0.00 N/A £0.00 Monitoring September Reports 2018. Stage 2 issued December 2018. Stage 3 issued February 2019. Final report issued April 2019. Post Project PPE Surveys Complete. £0.00 £0.00 N/A £0.00 Evaluation PPE Report Complete. £0.00 £0.00 N/A £0.00 £37,483.63 £4,000.00 £3,762.00 £45,245.63
Financial
Total Budget £45,245.63
DfC Funding £37,483.63
Council Contribution £4,000.00
Trader Contribution £3,762.00
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Scheme Objectives Objective Output Achievement
Demonstrate clear A partnership delivery model; Holywood Achieved leadership and Town Centre Steering Group, Ards and ownership North Down Borough Council and Department for Communities
Adopt realistic implementation plan to Achieved deliver all elements of project by deadline of 31 March 2019
Realise a Council contribution of £4,000 Achieved (£2,000 Services of Quantity Surveyor and £2,000.00 Contribution towards Improvement Works)
Realise a trader contribution of at least 25% Achieved in respect of the shop frontage element; Property 1 - 33.33%, Property 2 - 54%, Property 3 - 25% and Property 4 - 25%
Offer appropriate Promotion via agreed Action Plan; Achieved attractions Christmas lighting feature, improvement works, branded shopping bags, bespoke google virtual tours, historical vinyl wrap, bespoke social media training, historical information signage and promotional items.
Promote civic pride Complete improvements to at least 35% of Achieved properties within the defined area; 36% completion.
Improve business and public perceptions of Achieved the target area by 5%; Public; positive perception increased from 32% to 91%. Negative views fell from 19% to 2%. Respondents strongly agreed that the physical appearance of the area had been improved. Business; perceptions of the area improved with a significant increase in the good/ excellent rating (74% post compared to 9% pre project). The percentage of respondents viewing the project areas as very poor/ poor had significantly decreased from 36% to just 7% post project.
No further decline in vacancy rate; remains Achieved as same.
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Council officers, working closely with DfC Officials, have successfully managed and delivered the Redburn Square Revitalisation Scheme meeting Departmental targets within budget and on time and enhancing the public’s perception of the area.
Recommendation It is recommended that the Council notes the report.
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ITEM 10
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development Committee
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Regeneration Service
Date of Report 17 May 2019
File Reference
Legislation
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:
Subject Town Centre Wi-Fi Update
Attachments None
It was previously agreed that a campaign should be undertaken to promote the free Wi-Fi in the five towns. A promotional campaign has been running since October 2018 to raise public awareness of the service. Looking at the figures available over a six month period, the campaign has been evaluated to determine if there has been any increase in uptake. The current annual usage is as follows:
Table 1
Wi-Fi Usage - number of sessions Jan 2019 - Town 2016 2017 2018 Mar 2019 Bangor 191,794 95,165 73,809 25,484 Holywood 63,781 46,487 51,317 17,148 Newtownards 211,114 177,577 64,335 18,564 Comber 133,012 96,446 35,548 9,028 Donaghadee 191,506 80,785 26,156 6,856 Total 791,207 496,460 251,164 77,080
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It had been necessary to address a number of equipment issues to ensure the Wi- Fi was functioning correctly while the promotional campaign was undertaken.
Discussions have also taken place with representatives of the 5 Chambers in preparation for the awareness campaign and they gave valuable feedback. The campaign included:
• Highlight that free Wi-Fi is available in the 5 Towns in the Borough Magazine • Distribution of window stickers to traders throughout the 5 towns (advertising free town Wi-Fi) and flyers (showing the coverage areas) • Council and 5 Chambers promoting free Wi-Fi, available through social media • Wi-Fi banners for those towns with banner brackets.
Evaluation
As the figures in Table 1 show, usage has fallen over time, however, the promotional campaign has resulted in a positive impact with usage rising in all towns over the 6-month period since the campaign started.
Comparing previous average usage, the numbers using the Wi-Fi per month across the five towns has risen from an average of c17,000 to c25,000; an increase of 41%.
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Mean monthly Wifi Usage - Device Sessions 30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
One of the major issues for the Bangor Wi-Fi is that as the first Town in Northern Ireland adopting the scheme, the infrastructure is now considered extremely dated effecting the coverage and robustness of the service.
Another issue is the inability to add value to the Wi-Fi, in order to introduce the end user to key information whether it be latest offers or what’s on.
Next Steps
There would still appear to be a demand for this type of service and if we can address the added value aspects of the offering through a managed service, there is potential to reverse the decline in usage.
Officers have been investigating ways to improve the infrastructure and use added value propositions with consultation taking place with the Bangor Chamber. On the infrastructure the following can be met:
• More robust hardware which should last longer exists • The new hardware will also deliver improved coverage • The bandwidth could be improved increasing download and upload speeds • A managed services partner can provide a much better end user experience.
On the manged service the following could be met:
• Simple registration (Once only) • GDPR guidelines met • Additional content provided • Opportunity for traders to announce new products/services • Opportunity for traders to promote offers • Opportunity for a much more personalised serve tailored to personal preferences • Opportunity to detail leisure, community and tourism events, real time • Opportunity to upsell through incentivised offers
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Clearly with technology moving swiftly, the Council has the ability to install a robust, quicker and much more effective product in Bangor in the first instance, as any future investment needs to fit into the Queen’s Parade and Bangor Waterfront Regeneration Project as well as being rolled out to the other towns in due course. This upgrade has been discussed with the Bangor Chamber and they are in agreement that this would be a much more beneficial way forward.
Following the review of Bangor, a review of the other towns will also be undertaken.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Council agrees to seek costs for the upgrade of the Bangor Wi-Fi and also makes an application to DfC for grant aid assistance for this project.
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ITEM 11
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development Committee
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Regeneration Service
Date of Report 17 May 2019
File Reference
Legislation
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:
Subject 5 Chambers of Commerce Yearly Review
Attachments None
Further to a previous Report regarding the development of business plans for the 5 Chambers, the Regeneration Section has continued to work closely with the Chambers of Commerce/Trade in each town to engage and develop the capacity of the Chambers and to improve the business environment in the towns.
Each Chamber has developed a 2-year business plan that clearly demonstrates the main issues in each town, alongside actions to assist the Chambers to develop, with key deliverables to demonstrate that the projects have benefited the towns and are value for money.
This new approach to funding has already reaped many benefits and has engendered a mutual feeling of partnership and trust in the working between the Chambers and the Council Officers.
The following is a synopsis of some of the work that has been undertaken.
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Chamber Activity Update
Bangor Activity Description AANDBC funding assisted with activities which added value Christmas to the Switch-on, Elf Trail, Father Christmas, Children’s Characters, Face Painters. Shop Local Festive shop local bunting displayed in participating retailers; Campaign Billboards utilised to encourage people to shop local. Social Media Facebook used to push out shop local message. GDPR Workshop for members, Linked-in workshop for Training Events Chamber members. Increasing profile Working with Ambassadors from SERC for Sea Bangor and of the Town Easter Monday. Growing the Networking events include hosting Shadow Secretary of Chamber State.
Comber Activity Description Creative Shops initiative to refurbish vacant unit and open as Increasing the a Comber Story Shop. Hanging Baskets provided to profile of the town participating traders. Social Media Use Facebook page to promote local events.
Donaghadee Activity Description 9th February 2019 encouraged residents and visitors to use local shops. Shops participated by doing special discounts - Shop Local participating shops had bunting on awning. Funding assisted Saturday with procurement, production and distribution of shop local branded promotional items all produced and distributed to promote shop local message. Promotion of festival via billboards, hiring equipment to Summer Festival contribute to Artisan food market, fireworks display, town branded promo items. Total attendance was 12,000. Gluten free Ireland workshop (3 sessions), GDPR (1 Session) Training Events training for members.
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Funding assisted with hosting and updating website, listing Facebook events, over 3000 visits to Visitdonaghadee Social Media website during summer festival. Trader Facebook Group established. Traders Christmas Set up of Gazebos, hire of lighting etc, advertising event in Event press. AANDBC funding assisted with purchase and provision of Increasing Profile hanging baskets. Donaghadee now has support from traders of the town to display 64 hanging baskets in town.
Holywood Activity Description Growing the Hosted regular networking and briefing sessions with Chamber members. Firewalk event. Social Media To promote upcoming events. Activities to add value to Christmas switch-on, Christmas Elf Christmas in Town, Christmas Stalls, Face painter, children’s characters. Communicate with Issue monthly newsletter, coffee mornings. members Training Events PSNI workshop, Randox Health Checks for members.
Newtownards Activity Description Networking events include business breakfasts. Leaflet Growing the produced for new members highlighting benefits of becoming Chamber a member. Newsletter produced to communicate with members. Increasing the Video produced showcasing Newtownards, filming shops. profile of the town cafes, decorations, staff. Regular news bulletins via e-zine Social media Facebook used to push shop local message. Christmas Christmas Campaign for 2018 included events, competitions.
In relation to the Chambers’ 2-year business plans all objectives have been met. This year has also seen a number of new personnel leading Chamber activity, with some Chambers beginning to re-establish themselves.
A new more informal format has been adopted to generate more cross fertilisation between the Chambers and feedback so far has been very positive. A number of key shared ideas have been tabled and with an expectation of joint work that will benefit all Chambers coming out of this process.
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The Head of Regeneration and Urban Development Manager have undertaken the annual review with the Chambers with feedback on the approach, delivery, direction of the funding and relationships being extremely positive. The Chambers feel that this approach is very beneficial in continuing to develop their role, responsibilities and offers an approach to attract new members and ensure Traders needs are voiced and acted upon.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Committee notes this report.
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MEETING TITLE
Portaferry Steering Committee Group
TIME DATE LOCATION 6:00pm Monday 25 March 2019 Market House, Portaferry Attendees Councillors Councillor Joe Boyle - Chair Councillor Robert Adair Councillor Eddie Thompson Councillor Lorna McAlpine
Other members Doug Edmondson John Dumigan Richard Anderson Mary Mageean Niall McVitty – Department for Communities
Officers David Shivers – Urban Development Manager, ANDBC Julia Kane – Corporate Project Officer, ANDBC Rowena Moore – Administrative Assistant, ANDBC
Guests Ricky Martin – AECOM Paul Murray - AECOM
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Agenda Item 1 Apologies Discussion Councillor Nigel Edmund Alderman Angus Carson Philip Moreland Mary Arthurs Brian Dorrian – Head of Regeneration, ANDBC Councillor Adair – apologies noted for lateness
Agenda Item 2 Declarations of Interest Discussion None declared.
Agenda Item Minutes of the previous meeting 26/02/19 2B It was AGREED on the proposal of Councillor Thompson seconded by Mr Dumigan that the minutes of the previous Portaferry Steering Group meeting held on 26th February be noted.
Agenda Item 3 Feedback on Public Realm Visit Discussion The Chair opened the discussion by asking for comments from the group relating to the public realm site visits that took place on Monday 11th March. The visits were to look at surfacing materials and lighting in the following locations: • Comber (focus on the Square – sandstone surface) • Newtownards (focus on Conway Square – Caithness stone surface) • Holywood (focus on Redburn Square – Italian porphyry stone surface).
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Portaferry Steering Committee Group (PSCG) agreed that out of the three locations they visited i.e. Comber Square, Conway Square and Redburn Square, they liked the finishing material and the colour combination of the Porphyry Stone at Redburn Square in Holywood. However, they had asked Catherine Adams of AECOM to look for other quarries and to provide more options. A material mock-up will be presented to PSCG for their approval.
The Urban Development Manager noted that it was important to minimise any potential trip hazards in the new public realm – and noted that the porphyry would need to be laid carefully. Mr Murray noted that trip hazards can be reduced by commissioning smaller set sizes, rather than larger flagstones.
Agenda Item 4 Statutory Bodies Feedback & & Agenda Item 5 Finalised Objectives of the Scheme (Julia) Discussion NI Water – update D Shivers It was noted at the previous steering group meeting that NI Water had suggested they would block the public realm scheme at the planning stage if the use of a sustainable drainage system was not considered for this scheme. The Urban Development Manager reported that he and Mr McVitty have since had a meeting with two other representatives from NI Water and reported that the meeting was very positive, noting the following points from the discussion: • NI Water agreed that provided some sustainability measures are considered and proof that they were
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unachievable, they would not try to block the scheme at planning. • The water sustainability measures and features will therefore be considered at the steering group meetings and ground surveys will also be carried out to look at feasibility. • NI Water also noted that a porphyry surface may create surface water run-off. • Any standing water on any steep areas would create a slip hazard during times of freezing conditions – therefore careful consideration should be given as to the surfacing material of the steep areas in Portaferry such as Castle Street/Ferry Street – a mix of materials may be required to reduce the slippage risk. • NI Water suggested a ‘super gully’ be created at the end of Castle Street and Ferry Street to get rid of excess surface water – the feasibility of this is to be investigated. • NI Water also noted that they would be interested in carrying out system upgrades and improvement works whilst the roads are dug up during the public realm works.
Department for Infrastructure Roads – J Kane Update The Corporate Project Officer reported that meetings have been held with DfI roads to discuss the extent of the works and the objectives to provide better connections around the town and make the Square more pedestrian friendly.
The Department for Infrastructure key requirements were that a slip resistant surface be applied for the footpaths at the steeper connecting roads of Ferry Street and Castle Street to avoid slipping. Based on this requirement, AECOM suggested to surface the centre of the square (from building wall to
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building wall) in Porphyry stone but suggested a mixed surface for the sloping footpath (mixed stone and asphalt or exposed aggregates). AECOM also suggested to reduce the tile size to reduce the risk of trip issues.
The provision of drop kerbs and the potential relocation of the bus stop etc were also discussed with DfI. PSCG requested that Project Team re-discuss traffic flow with DFI.
DfI agreed that the footpaths could be widened in certain areas in Portaferry provided that the road ways remain sufficiently wide to allow cars room to manoeuvre.
Mr Dumigan raised concern regarding the number of car parking spaces that may be lost in and around the Square due to the scheme. The Corporate Project Officer reported that the project team was awaiting confirmation from DfI regarding the exact number of car parking spaces that may be lost, as this depends on how much turning space is required for the Henderson’s delivery lorries.
Mr Anderson noted that the original planning application submitted by Hendersons has now been amended, which will potentially result in the loss of further car parking spaces in the Square to allow turning space for lorries.
The Urban Development Manager noted that DfI are reluctant to alter the road layout around Portaferry without detailed traffic flow studies having been done. Such studies are expensive, and furthermore the time period required for legislative change such as this is too long to be included under the current scheme.
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Agenda Item 6 Programme Update (AECOM) Discussion Mr Martin reported the following: • That there are no major changes to the programme. • The main addition to the project schedule is the inclusion of a PAD meeting, which is being provisionally set up to take place at the end of April. • The desired outcome of the present meeting is to have the concept design approved in principle.
Agenda Item 7 Design Options (AECOM) and approval (Steering Group) Discussion AECOM circulated design options to the group, which were then presented by Mr Murray. The following points were noted: • The outcomes of the meeting with DfI have been included within the designs. • General feedback from the section office is that porphyry would be the recommended surfacing material as this is less slippery that some other natural stone options. • The specification and laying of the stones can be adapted to reduce the trip hazards. • A second meeting was held with DfI in Downpatrick, where features such as pedestrian crossings were discussed. Currently none of the pedestrian crossings in Portaferry are up to the present standards but these would need to be brought up to standard under the new scheme. This would include tactile paving and drop kerbs etc as standard at the crossings. • The width of the footways was also discussed with DfI. These must be at least 1.8m wide in order to allow two wheelchairs to pass. Some of the footways are
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currently below this width at present, and it is hoped to widen these as part of the scheme (it was noted that this should not be detrimental to traffic flow). Councillor Adair joined the meeting at 6:52pm. • There are issues with the Meetinghouse Lane junction and options are being reviewed to make this safer. • DfI are to examine the tracking of the delivery lorry vehicles to see how many car parking spaces may be lost due to their required turning circle. • On street parking was discussed with DfI – no major changes to this are envisaged but there may be some changes to the extent of the roadway marked with double yellow lines. • An audit of the signage in Portaferry will be conducted with DfI Traffic/Roads Service – the aim will be to decide which signage to keep/remove, and what more signage may be required.
AECOM presented two options for the concept design: • Option 1 – the bus stop remains in the Square. A number of car parking spaces will be lost under this option but this will be somewhat mitigated by altering a parking area which is currently parallel parking, to be set perpendicular to increase capacity. • Option 2 – the bus stop is removed from the Square and relocated to elsewhere in the town. Translink have requested further discussions with DfI, PSNI etc to discuss a suitable relocation of the bus stop if this option is chosen. The details are still to be confirmed but under this option less car parking spaces would be lost that in option 1. There would be increased flexibility under this option to use the Square as a public space for events etc.
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• The proposed surface material for both options in the Square is natural stone paving in a mixture of flagstones and set paving. For improved grip it is proposed to surface the steeper streets with mixed stone and asphalt or exposed aggregates with a natural stone trim (porphyry).
Councillor McAlpine inquired is the porphyry surface material was reasonable easy to clean, and how it compared to other surfacing materials in this regard. Mr Murray replied that treating the stone will make it easier to clean.
Mr Edmondson noted that the bus stop can be a location of anti-social behaviour in the Square so it may be beneficial to relocate it, and further asked if it was known how many people use this bus stop regularly. ACTION: Project Team to get statistics from Translink of how many people use the Portaferry bus.
Ms Mageean suggested that Anne Street would be a potential site for the relocation of the bus stop, as this is near the health clinic so would be handy for access to this service.
Mr Edmondson inquired if time restrictions (perhaps 1-2 hours) could be put in place on the car parking spaces in the Square to increase availability. The Urban Development Manager replied that the car parking strategy has not yet been adopted by the council, in order to implement such changes.
Mr Martin reported that Translink are open to the idea of relocating the bus stop but wish to have certainty that the Steering Group are in agreement before any public consultation commences in this regard.
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Mr Martin reported that the public consultation for the scheme will take place in May, for the duration of 10 working days. During this time boards with information will be available to view and these will also be manned for a couple of evenings by AECOM staff if members of the public have questions or wish to discuss the scheme. The preferred locations for the consultation are at Exploris than the Market House to attract as many people as possible.
The Urban Development Manager stated the need to include all sections of the community in the consultation.
Councillor Adair left the meeting at 7:36pm.
Mr Murray proceeded to give further information regarding the two concept design options, including details on the locations of proposed pedestrian crossings, areas where the footway will be widened, changes in the extent of double yellow lines and changes to configuration of the car parking spaces etc.
Councillor McAlpine left the meeting at 7:43pm.
Mr Murray reported that a further meeting is planned with DfI Roads section in order to discuss lighting in the public realm. He noted that presently there is a mix of street lighting in Portaferry and that consideration should be given as to whether contemporary or heritage style lighting is preferable (images of potential lighting styles were circulated to the group). Mr Murray commented that the height of the lighting columns should also be considered and proposed that 5-6m height street lighting would be best for Portaferry as most of the buildings in Portaferry are two storeys tall. This however
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would require additional light post to have a better light coverage. The Urban Development Manager suggested that white LED lighting would be preferable.
Mr Murray also noted that some building mounted lighting would also be considered, as well as some feature column lighting for installation in the Square (the columns can project different types of lighting during events, sound system etc).
Mr McVitty stated that he had seen some examples where QR code is included in paving as an added feature of interest. The Urban Development Manager noted that this could be looked at as part of a potential revitalisation package to follow the public realm scheme.
Mr Murray noted that the suggested area for situating a loading bay for deliveries is on the widest section of Church Street, due to the sufficient width of the roadway here.
It was suggested to include some provision of electric car charging points within the new scheme, potentially a couple at meetinghouse Street Carpark (one already exists at Exploris).
Mr Murray showed the group some examples of the surfacing material for the group to examine (granite and porphyry) and stated the need to get the colour blend right – noting that a stone material mock-up will be provided in advance.
The Urban Development Manager noted that a joint workshop/meeting is to be held with the utility companies in Portaferry to get their buy in for the project and get them to coordinate works before the implementation works commence (at their own expense).
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ACTION: The Project Team are to organise a meeting/workshop with utility company representatives.
The AECOM representatives wished to get an agreement with the Steering Group regarding the concept design as presented – i.e. the footprint of the scheme, the widening of the footpaths, the palette of the materials to be used etc.
On the proposal of Mr Edmondson seconded by Mr Dumigan it was AGREED to approve the outline concept design as detailed by AECOM.
Moving forward, AECOM are to develop the design including Signage, M&E (lighting), accessibility and loading bay location etc.
PSCG agreed that the bus stop should be relocated away from the Square (design option 2) in order to have more parking spaces. The Project Team advised that there is a risk of locals objecting to the bus relocation at consultation stage, that buy in is required to be achieved with the help of the PSCG.
Agenda Item 8 Any Other Business Discussion No items were raised.
Agenda Item 9 Date and Time of Next Meeting Discussion The date of the next meeting is to be confirmed. AECOM are to advise of the readiness of the design in order to organise the next PSCG meeting which, given the purdah period, needs to be approved by the CEO.
Adjournment The meeting ended at 8:27pm.
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ITEM 13
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Regeneration Service
Date of Report 14 May 2019
File Reference
Legislation
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:
Subject Rural Development Programme - Village Renewal Update
Attachments Appendix A - Kircubbin Green project Appendix B - Killinchy Community Hall Grounds Environmental Improvement Scheme
Background
As previously reported, a number of village renewal projects have been identified in consultation with Village Action Plans across the Borough. The Rural Development Programme (RDP) provides funding support for village renewal projects as identified within the village plans. Capital funding is available over the lifetime of the fund of £897,750 of grant aid for these projects. This is matched by 25% funding from Council.
AECOM has been commissioned to develop projects that required concept designs, community consultation and taken to RIBA Stage 4 (Technical Design Stage), with full planning permission and a public tender process where required.
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Schemes Underway / Completed
The following projects have progressed and are due to complete in the coming weeks:
Portavogie - Development of a fully functional kitchen and external toilets at the Community Centre
As agreed, the proposed works to the Community Centre in Portavogie have been progressed to include the extension of the existing kitchenette to provide a fully functional kitchen, installation of acoustic panels in the hall and the conversion of a disused shower room to two accessible toilets to service the facilities to the rear of the Centre.
The project has been successfully awarded funding. The total cost of the project was £74,895, a grant award from RDP of £56,895, NIHE (Northern Ireland Housing Executive) grant award of £9,000 and a Council contribution of £9,000.
Ballywalter - Improvements to the Promenade
The works to improve the promenade area in Ballywalter have been progressed. This project included new bollard lighting, resurfacing works and an access ramp, new picnic benches, seating and litter bins.
The application was successful and a Letter of Offer received from RDP for £67,302.48 based on £89,736.64 of total project cost. Therefore, the Council’s contribution was £22,434.16 from existing budgets. This project is nearing completion and is on target to be completed by 30 June 2019.
Ballywalter - Improvements to the Harbour
In addition, approval was given to progress an application to the European Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF) for a suite of improvements to the Harbour for the benefit of local fishermen and recreational boat users. The scheme included the installation of a DAVIT, CCTV cameras, LED lighting, a drying out berth and stainless steel mooring rings.
This application was successful and a Letter of Offer was awarded for £67,429 from EMFF. A Council contribution of £77,429 was required to complete the scheme which has been met from existing budgets. This project is on target to be completed by 30 June 2019.
Groomsport – Environmental Improvement Scheme
The proposed project sought to implement improved access to the beach between the existing coastal path to the rear of Groomsport Parish Church. As part of the programme of works, new planters will be installed to enhance the village and compliment recent success achieved in the Ulster in Bloom and Best Kept Awards.
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The application was successful and a Letter of Offer received for £16,492.50 from RDP based on £21,990 of total project cost. Therefore, the Council’s contribution was £5,497.50 from existing budgets. This project is on target to be completed by 30 June 2019.
Village Plans - Review and Update of 8 Village Plans
This project has now been completed. Village plans have been printed and shared with the community groups for Carrowdore, Killinchy, Lisbane and Lisbarnett, Portavogie, Cloughey, Helen’s Bay and Crawfordsburn, Ballygowan and Groomsport.
A launch event will be organised to acknowledge the updating and review of the eight Village Plans in due course.
This means that all Village Plans are currently up-to-date.
Schemes in Development
The Council previously agreed that the following projects were to be progressed to RIBA Stage 4 (Technical Design Stage) with full planning permission obtained and a public tender process completed so that an application could be submitted to the Rural Development Programme, Village Renewal Scheme. The current status of these projects are as follows:
Greyabbey - Village Carpark Scheme
A planning application has now been submitted for the National Trust Carpark. Officers are liaising with the National Trust to finalise documentation including the development/licence agreement, signage, operational agreements and procurement. A further report will be presented when this is formalised and a funding Letter of Offer has been received.
Crawfordsburn - Crawfordsburn Glen
AECOM is currently finalising the tender documentation to progress both the play area and car park phases identified in the concept design.
Cloughey - Warren Carpark
AECOM is currently finalising the tender documentation to progress works to this site in association with other government agencies.
Portaferry - Portaferry Heritage Trail
AECOM is currently finalising the tender documentation to progress the heritage trail.
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Carrowdore - Environmental Improvement Scheme
This scheme will involve improving the area around the Community Centre and playpark with hedge and bulb planting, and the installation of a permanent tree which can be used for Christmas decorations. In addition, a number of trees will be installed along the Main Street to improve the aesthetic appeal of the village. A planning application has now been submitted and AECOM is currently finalising the tender documentation to progress works.
Signage - Village Signage Scheme
AECOM is currently finalising the designs for each village. An initial meeting was held on 28 November 2018 with 2 nominated representatives from each village, AECOM and Council Officers. This work is currently ongoing to progress this project. A report will be presented in due course.
Kircubbin - The Green
The Council was advised in October 2018 that work was ongoing to finalise a design for improvement works to the Green in Kircubbin. A number of consultation exercises have taken place with local residents to obtain community buy-in for the proposal.
AECOM has now completed the design, see attached Appendix A, and the focus of this scheme will be around improving the green space at the front of the site to create a focal point in the village and a user-friendly civic space. The scheme includes seating, planters and an art sculpture. In addition, signage will be installed to demarcate the car park and the facility. It is estimated that these works will cost £150,000 with a grant of £112,500 available for the RDP and a Council contribution of £37,500. A provision has been made in existing Council budgets for this. The scheme as outlined in Appendix 1 is the preferred scheme that has been accepted through community consultation.
Schemes Under Review
The following projects are under review and may or may not progress due to the timeframes for the delivery of the fund:
Killinchy - Community Hall Grounds Environmental Improvement Scheme
The Council previously agreed that AECOM would develop a design for drainage works and a biodiversity area beside Killinchy Community Hall. At the initial site visit with the consultants and some local residents, the scheme evolved and now includes the entire site around the community centre. The scheme has been developed via a phased approach and includes an extension to the car park, adventure play area, a dog agility park, a pump track and improvements to the play park, as per the attached Appendix B.
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Total project costs for the entire scheme is estimated at £494,965. It is estimated that the works to the carpark and adventure play ground will cost £338,505 with a grant of £200,000 available from the RDP and a Council contribution of £138,505.
Ballygowan - Moss Road and Village Hall Extension
The initial project that was identified from the village plan was for the provision of a village car park. This could not be progressed and therefore work is ongoing, to identify an alternative project for the village that is suitable for RDP funding. The two projects that have been initially identified include Moss Road Environmental Improvement Scheme and the extension and reconfiguration of the Village Hall. Work on both of these is progressing.
Ballyhalbert - Village Environmental Improvement Scheme
The initial project that was identified from the village plan was a Village Environmental Improvement Scheme, which wasn’t supported by the community, hence it did not move forward to the next stage under the RDP.
Ballyhalbert - Shore Road Feasibility Study
It was agreed previously that a feasibility study would be undertaken on the Shore Road in Ballyhalbert, to determine the cost and viability of a footpath along the Shore Road. However, members eluded to the fact that a report had already been done by Transport NI. On further investigation Officers requested and obtained a copy of the report. In January 2019, Officers met with local representatives and shared a copy of the document with them. The local community were advised that as this report had already been done, it would not be possible to apply for funding for a duplicate study. The local community agreed to lobby the relevant department to continue to highlight the need for a footpath along this section of Shore Road in the village.
In light of the above, no project has now been identified under the RDP Village Renewal Scheme for Ballyhalbert. Officers will continue to support the community.
Millisle - Lagoon and Beach Park Area
AECOM and Council Officers have been working closely to define the concept design for the Lagoon Area, Millisle. In addition, Officers have continued to progress a Masterplan for the entire site to include the Beach Park.
The total scheme was estimated at £1,785,768. The substantial costs mean it is not feasible to consider the entire project, so a phased approach to delivery has been taken. Following consultation, the need was to address the disused Lagoon paddling pool as a priority first phase. However, the proposed works to this phase identified require planning permission so Officers submitted a pre-application to determine the level of surveys that would be required to progress this application. It has been recommended that given the level of consents which are necessary for both the ground investigation and the actual works it would be essential to set up further meetings.
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In light of the above, it is unlikely that this project will progress to the RDP due to time constraints. Officers will continue to move this project forward.
Helens Bay - Tennis Club
Helen’s Bay Tennis Club cannot be progressed as the total cost of the feasibility study is £25,167, the maximum funding available under the Rural Development Programme for a study is £5,000. There is currently no budget available to match fund this study to the value of £20,167.
Helens Bay - Station Square
Helen’s Bay Station Square concept design has been completed, Station Square is not within Council ownership the feasibility study was commissioned as a lobbying tool for the local community and officers will continue to support the local community.
Ballywalter - Village Environmental Improvement Scheme
The village Environmental Improvement Scheme Study has been completed, public consultation is required before the report can be finalised. A report will be presented in due course.
Portavogie - Harbour Environmental Improvement Scheme
The harbour Environmental Improvement Scheme Study has been completed, public consultation is required before the report can be finalised. A report will be presented in due course.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendation 1
It is recommended that Officers progress the remaining pre-requisites required to submit an application to the Village Renewal Scheme for Greyabbey Carpark, Crawfordsburn Glen, Cloughey Warren Carpark, Portaferry Heritage Trail and Carrowdore Environmental Improvement Scheme. A provision has been made in existing budgets for the required Council contribution for each project. A further report will be presented in due course once the applications have been determined.
Recommendation 2
It is recommended that Officers progress the scheme to improve the green space at the front of the site at Kircubbin Green and put in place the remaining pre-requisites required to submit an application to the Village Renewal Scheme.
Recommendation 3
It is recommended that Officers progress a planning application for Killinchy Community Hall Grounds Environmental Improvement Scheme, with a view to
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Unclassified applying for Rural Development funding, if available, or seek an alternative source of funding. A business case will be presented to Council in due course.
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N
BENCH TYPE 1 BENCH TYPE 2 LONG BENCH CORNER BENCH
EXISTING SURFACE RETAINED
LARGE RAISED SMALL RAISED PLANTER PLANTERS
GRANITE PAVING
NEW SIGN
EXISTING PHONE BOX TREES BENCH TYPE 1 PRUNUS SERRULA
LOW HEDGE KEY PLANTING HARDWORKS RESURFACED ASPHALT FOOTPATH
GRANITE PAVING ROYAL WHITE 450x600x50MM GRANITE PAVING JINAN BLUE 450x600x50MM EXISTING KERB TO BE LOW HEDGE BULB PLANTING RETAINED PLANTING PROPOSED FLUSH GRANITE HEBE 'ORATIA BEAUTY' RE-LEVEL EXISTING KERB 100X150MM GRASS. REMOVE METAL GRASS EDGE PATH AND FURNITURE SUB-BASE. GRAVEL BENCH TYPE 1 AND SAND MAKEUP LARGE SEAT BENCH TYPE 2 TO GRASS RE-TURF CORNER BENCH LARGE RAISED PLANTER WILDFLOWER PLANTING SMALL RAISED ART FEATURE PLANTER SOFTWORKS SHRUB PLANTING BENCH TYPE 2 RETAINED AND AUGUMENTED LARGE RAISED PLANTER WILDFLOWER PLANTING 75MM DECORATIVE SMALL RAISED PLANTER GRAVEL WITH BULBS MOWN GRASS ENTRANCE SIGN PERENNIAL PLANTING
PROPOSED TREE Improved Public Space PRUNUS SERRULA · CREATING A SENSE OF PLACE AS 'THE GREEN' · PROVIDING A WELCOME TO VISITORS PASSING THROUGH THE VILLAGE PROPOSED PERRENIAL · MAINTAINING FUNCTIONAL GRASSED AREA LIBERTIA GRANDIFOLA · CREATING VEGETATION BUFFER BETWEEN PARK SPACE AND ROAD EDGE · NEW SEATING AREAS LOW HEDGE PLANTING · RELOCATING SHRUBS AND FEATURE PLANTING INTO MORE FORMAL HEBE 'ORATIA BEAUTY' LAYOUT · NEW PAVED AREAS
NOTES Purpose of issue Project Title Drawing Title Designed Drawn Checked Approved Date AECOM SR SR AO CA 11/12/18 Beechill House PLANNING AECOM Internal Project No. Beechill Road, Belfast KIRCUBBIN THE GREEN 60571559 BT8 7RP Client ARDS & NORTH DOWN T: +44 (0)28 9070 5111 CONSTRUCTION RISKS MAINTENANCE / CLEANING DEMOLITION RISKS Scale @ A1 RISK PROPOSED LAYOUT F: +44 (0)28 9079 5651 1:100 www.aecom.com In addition to the hazard/risks normally associated with the types of work VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT SCHEMES This documentThis hasbeen accordanceprepared scopeAECOM'in the ofwith appointment XXX XX 00:00:16 X0 detailed on this drawing take note of above. It is assumed that all works on this Rev 4/12/2019 12:03 PM 4/12/2019 12:03 R:\LANDATA\60571559 - ARDS VILLAGES DEVELOPMENT\000_SITES\07 - KIRCUBBIN THE GREEN\900_CAD GENERAL\910_CAD\01-WIP\LA\01_01-DRAWINGS\60571569-ACM-07-XX-DR-LA-GA-60003 PROPOSED LAYOUT_MAIN STREET PROPOSED LAYOUT_MAIN GENERAL\910_CAD\01-WIP\LA\01_01-DRAWINGS\60571569-ACM-07-XX-DR-LA-GA-60003 KIRCUBBIN THE GREEN\900_CAD - - ARDS VILLAGES DEVELOPMENT\000_SITES\07 R:\LANDATA\60571559 appointment. AECOMthat terms ofthefor to subject andis acceptsclient no liability its with Drawing Number XX drawing will be carried out by a competent contractor working, where ANDBC appropriate, to an appropriate method statement. purposeswhichthe it for and only documentclient this anyits byusethan ofother By wasprepareddimensions beused.and Onlyprovided.written shall P0 Revision Details Date Suffix ©AECOM AVD-ACM-07-XX-DR-LA-60004 Check SAFETY, HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION BOX Plot Date : File Name : AECOM 10th Floor, The Clarence Street West Building 2 Clarence Street West AECOM Belfast, BT2 7GP KILLINCHY COMMUNITY CENTRE 10th Floor, www.aecom.com The Clarence Street West Building 2 Clarence Street West Drawing Number Belfast, BT2 7GP COMMUNITY PARK www.aecom.com xx
Drawing Number CONCEPT xx
This design aims to improve accessibility throughout the site, creating a welcoming community park space. EXISTING Play elements utilise the changes in level, encouraging BOUNDARY FENCE exploration through exciting and challenging scenarios. This design proposes a pump track for skaters and BMX use. Extension of the car park to the north of the Community Centre will reduce the need for roadside parking. ENCLOSED PLAY AREA
SHRUB PLANTING SHRUB INFORMAL PLANTING TREE PLANTING KICKABOUT EXISTING SPACE WITH IMPROVED WOODLAND EXISTING FENCE DRAINAGE BOUNDARY AND PROPOSED ZIP LINE HEDGE NATURE AREA BOUND WITH MOWN GRAVEL
GRASS PATH PATH 1:20 > 1:20
DOG AGILITY
Pro
WILDFLOWER PROJECT B STEPS IN SLOPE MEADOW ZIP LINE DOG AGILITY EQUIPMENT 1.2m FENCE & HEDGING PROJECT A
NATURE AREA PLAY AREA
1:20 > EXERCISE EQUIPMENT
SEATING ADVENTURE SPACE PLAY AREA PLANTERS
WILDFLOWER MEADOW MAINTAINED 1:20 >
DRAINAGE GRASS SEATING < 1:12
PLANTING NEW CAR PARKING EXERCISE 22 STANDARD EQUIPMENT SPACES
EXISTING PICNIC AREA NATIVE PLANTING OVERHEAD CABLES
RAMP TO PUMP TRACK BEECH HEDGING
BEECH 4 NEW HEDGING STANDARD SHRUB SPACES PLANTING
PROJECT C EXISTING CAR PARKING ADVENTURE PLAY
RELOCATED PUMP TRACK PUMP TRACK RECYCLING POINT
COMMUNITY HALL
EXISTING EXISTING ENTRANCE FENCE LINE
SCALE 1:250@A1 Unclassified
ITEM 14
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development Committee
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Regeneration Service
Date of Report 20 May 2019
File Reference
Legislation
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☐ No ☐ Not Applicable ☐
Subject Project 24 - Annual Review
Attachments None
Project Overview Project 24 is a temporary revitalisation project located on Queen’s Parade, Bangor. This is an innovative and impressive project which has captured the public’s notice, bringing vibrancy and interest to a previously underused and dilapidated area within the town centre.
Project 24 utilises 6no bespoke artist pods split into 2no individual artists’ mini studios, creating 12no studios. It opened in April 2013 and runs on a phase basis per financial year. The project is currently in Phase 7 (April 2019 – March 2020) and will continue on a temporary basis pending the Queen’s Parade development.
Project 24 Artists
Project 24 facilitates a variety of artists specialising in a range of mediums.
Time period Number of users Phase 1 April 2013 – March 2014 19no artists Phase 2 April 2014 – March 2015 24no artists
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Phase 3 April 2015 – March 2016 17no artists Phase 4 April 2016 – March 2017 15no artists Phase 5 April 2017 – March 2018 12no artists Phase 6 April 2018 – March 2019 13no artists Phase 7 April 2019 – March 2020 12no artists
Phase 7 art pods are fully occupied with a waiting list of interested artists; Green Pod 1 Nu Ink – Tattoo Artist and Drawing Green Pod 2 Copperhead Cakes – Cake Decorator Lilac Pod 1 Social Pod Lilac Pod 2 John Patterson Art – Fine Art Pink Pod 1 Duncan Irvine Art – Drawing & Painting Pink Pod 2 Sharon Regan – Ceramics Yellow Pod 1 Made by Darkling – Jewellery, Fashion & Textiles Yellow Pod 2 Art by Klog – Mixed Media Painting and Felted Artwork Purple Pod 1 Debra Wenlock – Fine Art Purple Pod 2 Buttonmoon – Textiles Blue Pod 1 George Clarke – Cartoonist, Illustrator & Film Blue Pod 2 Twisted Pixie Jewellery – Handmade Jewellery
Artist Development
The following range of support is available for each artist to avail of; ▪ 1-1 confidential business mentoring ▪ Complimentary research services (ie. to identify marketing contact lists) ▪ Access to an annual programme of events and workshops ▪ Specific workshop training ▪ 1-1 specialist mentoring
Within this reporting period the following development sessions where available for the artists to attend; ▪ Finance for Artists/ Beginners Book-keeping ▪ Instagram for Artists ▪ Marketing Support Programme (1/2-day workshop and 1-1 specialist mentoring)
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▪ Videography
Upcoming development sessions to be offered to the artists;
▪ Various support services will be launched in September 2019; this will include a programme to replace ‘Pinnacle’ ▪ Shine – an intensive mentoring programme geared towards businesses with the potential to create employment ▪ A digital programme for SME’s will be launched in August 2019, with recruitment taking place in September/October 2019, followed by mentoring in November 2019
Events
Project 24 continues to host a variety of high quality events. Events are varied in style, nature and audience profile. The Hub is also available for hire for private events.
Phase 6 Events (Apr18 – Mar19) Event Date Allocated Total Cost Visitor Cost per Budget No’s head Easter 02.04.18 £17,000.00 £15,724.95 4,500 £3.49 Sundown Market 26.05.18 £10,000.00 £10,385.00 15,000 £0.69 YMCA Multicultural 16.06.18 £1,000.00 £410.00 450 £0.91 Event Open Art 17.06.18 £1,500.00 £1,202.00 400 £3.00 Schools Out for 30.06.18 £5,000.00 £4,141.80 6,500 £0.63 Summer Open Art 09.09.18 £1,500.00 £700.00 3,000 £0.23 Film Festival 04- £3,500.00 £4,195.76 2,300 £1.82 07.10.18 Haunted Hub 27.10.18 £4,000.00 £3,985.44 4,000 £0.99 Christmas Event 17.11.18 £8,000.00 £9,477.09 10,000 £0.94 Movie in the Hub 08- £4,500.00 £3,296.66 900 £3.66 09.12.18 Etsy Market 01- £1,500.00 £1,387.62 4,000 £0.34 02.12.18 Winter Sundown 15.12.18 Event £4,495.00 N/A N/A Market postponed (postponement fee)
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due to weather Sundown Market 16.03.19 Event £7,485.00 N/A N/A (rescheduled) cancelled (cancellation due to fee) weather and site conditions
A total of 11no events were delivered attracting 51,050 visitors. Phase 7 Events (to date) Event Date Allocated Total Cost Visitor Cost per Budget No’s head Easter 20&22.04.18 £9,800.00 £11,795.44 15,000 £0.79 Art on the Rails 27.04.19 £2,000.00 £2,476.00 2,500 £0.99
Phase 7 Events (upcoming) Event Date Allocated Budget Art on the Rails 26.05.19 £2,000.00 Art on the Rails 30.06.19 £2,000.00 Exhibition at Loft Gallery 03-28.07.19 £1,000.00 Etsy/ Seaside Revival 06.07.19 £2,500.00 Art on the Rails 28.07.19 £2,000.00 Art on the Rails 25.08.19 £2,000.00 Art on the Rails 29.09.19 £2,000.00 The Haunted Hub 27.10.19 £3,800.00 Christmas Switch On TBC £9,800.00 Christmas Movie Weekend 07-08.12.19 £4,000.00
To date Project 24 has hosted a total of 125 events, attracting an audience of 236,905 visitors Phase 1 (April 13 – March 14) 13no events 8,750 visitors
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Phase 2 (April 14 – March 15) 28no events 16,935 visitors Phase 3 (April 15 – March 16) 35no events 38,360 visitors Phase 4 (April 16 – March 17) 22no events 67,470 visitors Phase 5 (April 17 – March 18) 16no events 54,340 visitors Phase 6 (April 18 – March 19) 11no events 51,050 visitors
Other Business
Project Management Board
Project 24 Project Management Board meets as and when required. The board consists of representatives from The Department for Communities, YMCA, For A Better Bangor and Harbour Ward Residents Association.
Project 24 Artist Meetings
Project 24 Artist Meetings continue to take place on a monthly basis. The group consists of all artists within Project 24 and Council Officers.
Anti-Social Behaviour
There have been no recent reports of anti-social behaviour onsite. Rocklyn Engineering was appointed to install anti-climb fencing around the perimeter of the hub which has prevented climbing. The Council’s Community Safety Team continues to engage and monitor the level of anti-social behaviour within the area.
Recommendation It is recommended that the Council notes the above.
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ITEM 15
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Tourism Service
Date of Report 17 May 2019
File Reference TO/TD172
Legislation Not Applicable
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:
Subject Accommodation Audit and Scoping Report
Attachments Appendix 1 Executive Summary - Visitor Accommodation Audit and Scoping Study
Background
The Council launched the Integrated Strategy for Tourism, Economic Development and Regeneration (ITRDS) in March 2018. The Strategy has set the Borough ambitious targets to increase market share of overnight visitors to Northern Ireland from 6% to 10% and increase visitor expenditure from £46 million in 2016 to £82 million.
The ITRDS identified ‘Accommodation Development’ as one of its integrated actions, under the Thematic Priority ‘Equip with Skills and Spaces’, to assist deliver these targets for the Borough.
In August 2018 the Tourism Service procured ASM Associates to undertake a Visitor Accommodation Audit and Scoping Study of the Ards and North Down Borough.
The purpose of audit and scoping study was to assess the level of both current stock and future supply and demand for overnight tourist accommodation within the Borough.
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Key objectives were
• To ascertain the current level and profile of overnight tourist accommodation within the Borough.
• To highlight future anticipated growth in the number of out of state overnight tourists to the area and future demand for overnight accommodation by type of accommodation for the period 2018 to 2030.
• To make recommendations on the type(s) of accommodation needed, and in which locations, to meet the ambitious targets of growth for out of state overnight trips as set by the ITRDS.
Key findings – current level and profile of tourist accommodation within the Borough
• There has been little change on the volume and range of accommodation serving the area in the last 3 years (2016-2018). • The overall volume of room stock is low and the average size of most accommodation types is small. • Certain markets will be unable to use most local hotels, even when the preference is to do so (ie tour groups/special interest groups/large residential conferences due to room stock and accommodation size). • The choice of non- hotel accommodation in each star grade, which may be important to some markets, is also limited. • There is little accommodation in the Borough, which would be viewed as unique in design or of architectural/heritage significance, which is important for some key customer segments.
Trends dominating nature of demand for accommodation
• Move from travel experience to travel relationships • Consumer desire for highly differentiated, local, experiences that strengthen the local sense of place • Search for different expression of quality as defined by traditional accommodation • Role of social media and internet as primary means of sourcing accommodation
Trends dominating influencing the supply of tourist accommodation
• Growing interest amongst business people within, or with ties to the local community, to invest in new generation tourist accommodation • Emergence of existing tourism businesses to think more creatively about their existing assets and how to develop interesting new opportunities for overnight stays
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• Recognition by operators that they can offer a range of very different types of overnight accommodation at the same property, thereby providing guests with choice • Recognition by traditional suppliers of overnight accommodation (eg brand hotels) that their investments will be in resorts or towns on the periphery of a rural destination
Accommodation solutions to meet potential growth aligned to key markets
• A range of accommodation solutions are presented within the report including boutique hotels, multi accommodation option and water-based accommodation. These are consequently aligned to markets and indicate recommended features. • Recommendations as to where the accommodation solutions might be most beneficial within the Borough, is included. • It is acknowledged that market forces and the private sector will decide what to develop, where to develop and when. • The report indicates, based on projections, the demand for hotel bedrooms could increase by an average of almost 8% per annum between 2019 and 2030, guesthouses and B&Bs estimated at 4% while self-catering is expected to increase by an average of 3% per annum.
ASM Associates completed this work in March 2019. There are a series of recommendations within the report as to how the Council can help with future development. Officers within Tourism, in conjunction with appropriate departments both internal and external, will continue to develop this work in line with these recommendations. The key next step is to take the report down to the next level with an action plan showing how, working with Planning and the industry, we can support and encourage the development of appropriate tourism accommodation which will ultimately support the ambitious targets as outlined in the ITDRS.
An Executive Summary of the Visitor Accommodation Audit and Scoping Study is attached in Appendix 1.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that Council approves the direction outlined in the Visitor Accommodation Audit and Scoping Study and the development of an action plan.
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Visitor Accommodation Audit & Scoping Study
Final report – Executive Summary 3rd April 2019
Registered office: 4th Floor Glendinning House 6 Murray Street Belfast
BT1 6DN
Northern Ireland
Ref: MW/km T: 028 9024 9222 www.asmaccountants.com Private and Confidential
Sharon Mahaffy/Rosemary Richardson Head of Tourism Ards and North Down Borough Council Signal Centre 2 Innotec Drive Balloo Road Bangor Co.Down BT19 7PD
3rd April 2019
Dear Sharon and Rosemary
Ref: Visitor Accommodation Audit & Scoping Study.
I enclose the Executive Summary from our report in connection with the above matter. I note that the report is based on the information provided to us and on research data collected by this firm in preparing Hotel Industry Surveys and Reports and data published by Tourism NI and NISRA, none of which has been verified on any basis in the nature of an audit. If you have any queries, or if we can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me at this office.
Yours sincerely
Michael Williamson Director
Email: [email protected]
ASM (B) Ltd trades as ASM, a brand name used by a number of separate limited companies. ASM (B) Ltd (NI 55558) is authorised to carry on investment business in the Republic of Ireland, is regulated for a range of investment business activities in the United Kingdom and is registered to carry on audit work by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI). ASM (B) Ltd is an independent member of ASM Accountants Ltd. We are members of Accelerate, a community of relationship-focused, technology-driven, value-based accounting firms. Accelerate is a Business Associate of Crowe Global, which is one of the largest accounting networks in the world with offices in more than 130 countries. A list of directors is maintained at our registered office. ANDBC – Visitor Accommodation Audit & Scoping Study Contents
Section Page(s)
I Executive Summary 1 - 14
Appendix
Distribution map of tourist accommodation in the council A district
ANDBC – Visitor Accommodation Audit & Scoping Study SECTION Executive Summary I
Introduction
1. Of all local government districts in Northern Ireland, Ards and North Down Borough Council has more coastline than any other at 115 miles. It is: “a destination shaped by water where encounters with the place and its people leave an indelible impression” 2. As a destination it offers history, culture, tranquillity, scenic beauty and outstanding local produce and seafood including Comber Potatoes, now protected by PGI status. Access to the district could not be more straightforward since there are excellent links to Belfast (less than 10 miles away), its airports, sea ports and the national motorway network. 3. Yet despite these virtues, its tourism journey in the modern era is just about to begin. The largest town in the district, Bangor, was a successful Victorian resort and a working port in its day, but social, technological and travel changes mean that it no longer has the gravitas as a place to visit or spend time in. 4. Recognising that the district has so much unrealised potential, Council has placed tourism front and centre of its Integrated Strategy for Tourism, Regeneration and Economic Development 2018 – 2030. The development of tourism is of primary importance since it presents an opportunity to utilise the natural and heritage assets of the district in a way that can drive economic value into outlying areas – hugely important to a district which has a large coastal area and rural hinterland and where agriculture and fishing are the primary industries outside of the main urban settings.
How is tourism performing today?
5. Across Northern Ireland, tourism has been growing significantly. The improvement in overnight tourist trips and stays at a national level can be quantified as follows:
Overnight stays in Northern Ireland (source: NISRA)
18,000,000
16,000,000
14,000,000
12,000,000
10,000,000 Overnight stays
8,000,000 Overnight trips
6,000,000
4,000,000
2,000,000
0 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
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ANDBC – Visitor Accommodation Audit & Scoping Study SECTION Executive Summary I
6. In 2017, the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (“NISRA”) estimate that the number of overnight trips across Northern Ireland (at 4.8m) was 22% more than in 2011 and that the total number of overnight stays (at 16.8m) was 14% higher (+2.1m nights) when compared to 2011. However, the average length of stay for each trip has declined from 3.97 nights in 2011 to 3.47 nights in 2017. 7. Overnight trips may be defined as inbound visitors coming to Northern Ireland for any reason (holiday, business, visiting friends and relatives) and staying for at least one night during a trip. Added to this are Northern Ireland residents on holiday at home. Overnight stays are generally defined as any person staying away from their usual place of residence for one night or more. Those stays may be taken in commercial accommodation, in the homes of friends or relatives or in non-commercial accommodation (i.e. second homes, holiday homes, tents and so on). 8. Belfast has been the main beneficiary of the increase in overnight visitor trips and stays but Derry/Londonderry and the Causeway Coast and Glens region in particular have also experienced increased volumes. Belfast, as the capital city and main gateway, dominates tourism but it has also benefited from the largest share of investment by the public and the private sectors. 9. In the ANDBC district, NISRA estimate that in 2017 the number of overnight trips totalled 282,323 with overnight stays totalling 1,340,258, representing 6% and 8% respectively of the Northern Ireland totals during the year. 10. ANDBC ranked 4th of the 11 local government districts (“LGDs”) in overnight stays but 5th in overnight trips. It ranked 6th in visitor spending during the year (£46.5m), but the average spend per overnight stay was the lowest of all LGDs at £34.69 (N. Ire avg: £54.91). The question is, why might this be? 11. There are likely to be 3 primary reasons leading to low spend in the district: a) a high proportion of overnight stays are taken with friends and relatives or in low priced or owned holiday accommodation (such as caravans); and, or b) the opportunity to spend is limited; and, or c) the destination appeals more to lower spending markets than to high spending markets. 12. NISRA research suggests that the Visiting Friends and Relatives market (“VFR”) accounts for the largest proportion of overnight trips at 56% of the total in 2017 (as against 39% nationally). This market has fewer tendencies to use commercial accommodation than other markets. As for business travellers, this market accounted for 5% of overnight trips (nationally, the average is 9%) while 31% of trips were for holiday, pleasure and leisure purposes (45% nationally in 2017). So, it would appear that there is room to grow the business tourism and leisure markets in the district.
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ANDBC – Visitor Accommodation Audit & Scoping Study SECTION Executive Summary I
13. Of course, those overnight visitors not staying with friends and relatives need somewhere to stay and our consultation with accommodation providers and other stakeholders provided useful insight into the demand for accommodation by key markets:
G/H, B&B Estimated market Hotel Self-catering Total demand for Guest Inn accommodation rooms % rooms % rooms % rooms % Corporate/MICE 17,096 29 2,706 8 807 2 20,610 18 Leisure 28,641 49 17,140 83 20,439 60 66,220 57 Groups/tours 8,275 14 - - - - 8,275 7 VFR 5,000 8 2,706 9 12,556 38 20,262 18 Council district total 59,013 100 22,552 100 33,803 100 115,374 100 ASM estimates based on primary research & NISRA statistics for non-hotel accommodation
14. While these estimates are unofficial as they have not been prepared by NISRA, they do include information not available elsewhere and set a baseline against which future tourism performance can be measured. As regards other forms of accommodation, NISRA estimate that approximately 15% of all domestic overnight trips in 2017 were taken in second homes, while a further 11% were taken in campsites, caravan parks or trailer parks. 15. The demand for commercial accommodation mapped out above is less than one would expect given the proximity of the destination to the main gateway, and the natural unspoilt beauty of the area:
Accommodation ANDBC 2014 2015 2016 2017 Bed room & bed space bed bed bed bed room room room room occupancy rates space space space space Hotel 56% 44% 54% 44% 61% 54% 63% 54% Guest house/ B&B / Guest 21% 15% 18% 13% 30% 21% 34% 26% accommodation annual peak annual peak annual peak annual peak Self-catering – unit 28% 35% 32% 44% 25% 35% 27% 37% occupancy units rooms units rooms units rooms units rooms 124 289 132 308 140 321 149 343 Source: NISRA / NISRA LGD 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014
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ANDBC – Visitor Accommodation Audit & Scoping Study SECTION Executive Summary I
16. Our own consultation with hotels in the district shows that there is currently spare capacity in the destination based on occupancy information provided by those businesses:
Hotel bedroom occupancy ANDBC (source: ASM) 90.0%
80.0% 79% 76%
70.0% 69% 70% 66% 68% 65% 67% ANDBC 61% 64% 2016/17 60.0% 62% 62% 55%
51% 53% ANDBC
Occup Occup % 50.0% 2017/18
42% 43% 40.0% 42% 37%
36% 30.0%
20.0% Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep
17. The decline in bedroom occupancy rates in the district in the period May to September 2018 compared to 2017 can be explained by the very substantial increase in bedroom supply in Belfast (+1,076 rooms) during 2018. Since the majority of hotel stock in the ANDBC district is located within 10 miles of Belfast City Centre, it seems that the room undersupply issue that existed in Belfast has now been addressed and the volume of “overspill” demand using hotels in the ANDBC area has since reduced.
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ANDBC – Visitor Accommodation Audit & Scoping Study SECTION Executive Summary I
18. Guest house, bed and breakfast and guest accommodation owners may have been similarly affected:
Guest House, B&B, Guest Accomm occupancy rates (source: NISRA) 70.0%
60.0% 58%
51%
50.0%
46% 42% 40.0% N Ire 2017 36% 37% 35% 34% N Ire 2018 32% 30.0% 30% ANDBC 2017 27% 28% 23% ANDBC 2018
Occupancy rate Occupancy 20.0% 18%
14% 10.0%
6%
0.0% Jan - Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Mar
19. Somewhat surprisingly in the serviced accommodation segments in the district, July is a relatively weak trading month which is inconsistent with the demand for accommodation across Northern Ireland during this period – a sign that leisure visitors are not travelling to the destination in the numbers that they could be.
What supply currently exists in the district?
20. The range and volume of accommodation serving the destination is somewhat modest and has changed little over the past three years:
2015 2016 2017 2018 Ards and North Down Borough Council LGD units rooms units rooms units rooms units rooms
Hotels 7 299 7 299 7 299 7 299 G/House, B&B, Guest 47 189 58 209 58 213 59 218 Accommodation Self-catering 132 308 140 321 149 343 151 345 Hostel 3 55 3 55 3 55 3 55 Campus 1 18 1 18 1 18 1 18 Total 190 869 209 902 218 928 221 935 Source: Tourism NI/NISRA
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ANDBC – Visitor Accommodation Audit & Scoping Study SECTION Executive Summary I
21. Important points are: a) the overall volume of room stock is low; b) the average size of most accommodation types is also low – hotels in the ANDBC district have 43 bedrooms on average as against a national average of 65 bedrooms. Guesthouses, bed and breakfast and guest accommodation have an average of 3.7 bedrooms compared to the national average of 4.3; c) as a consequence, certain markets will be unable to use most local hotels, even where the preference is to do so (i.e. tour groups/special interest groups/large residential conferences); d) the choice of non-hotel accommodation in each star grade, which may be important to some markets, is also limited:
G/House & Hostel / Hotels Self-catering Grading B&B & GA Campus units rooms units rooms estab. rooms units rooms 5 star 1 105 2 13 1 3 - - 4 star 2 75 3 20 19 30 1 30 3 star 3 104 1 3 8 12 - - 2 star ------1 star ------ungraded 1 15 53 182 123 300 3 43 Total 7 299 59 218 151 345 4 73 Source: Tourism NI grading as at 31 Dec 2018
e) there is little accommodation in the district (or across Northern Ireland for that matter), which may be described as being in premises that are unique or are of architectural/heritage significance; and f) diversity gives the consumer choice…and that is missing within the district and on the flanks of Strangford Lough particularly.
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ANDBC – Visitor Accommodation Audit & Scoping Study SECTION Executive Summary I
The future development of tourism in the district 22. The Ards and North Down borough has a population of more than 158,000 people and covers an area of more than 228 square miles. It sits adjacent to two major waterways - Belfast Lough, Northern Ireland’s busiest seaway and Strangford Lough, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Special Scientific Interest and a Marine Nature Reserve. The Council’s Integrated Strategy for Tourism, Regeneration and Economic Development (the “Strategy”) aims to deliver economic welfare for the district through overnight trips, visitor spending, wider economic activity and job creation.
23. The opportunities to experience tranquillity, creativity, great quality food and history are to be underpinned by: a) the need to create greater awareness of the destination by communicating that it has a wealth of living and historic culture, specific things to participate in, specific places to encounter and a programme of events designed to showcase the essence of the destination; b) a place marked by water - a unique, distinctive and differentiating aspect of the destination to create a distinctive suite of experiences to enhance the motivation to purchase; c) creativity, as expressed through the ways in which visitors will encounter the destination’s places, people, personality, product and programming of events; and d) the ‘experiences’ will be true to the motivations of those visitors who represent the best prospects for the destination. Those prospects include Great Escapers, the Culturally Curious and niche markets such as Christian heritage, cultural and heritage, golf, nature, screen and sustainable tourism.
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ANDBC – Visitor Accommodation Audit & Scoping Study SECTION Executive Summary I
24. A programme of capital investment will help change the appeal of the district. Around £70m is to be committed to the Bangor waterfront regeneration scheme, the proposed development of Whitespots Country Park into a multi-use recreational facility with major visitor attractions and the development of an innovation hub. This will complement other key attractions in the district including the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum (168,000 visitors in 2017), Exploris (around 100,000 visitors per annum), Castle Espie Wetland Centre (59,000 visitors in 2017) and Mount Stewart which is one of the most inspiring and unusual gardens in the National Trust's ownership and which welcomes around 230,000 visitors per annum. Indeed, developments at Mount Stewart are expected to increase the number of visitors to between 350,000 and 400,000 per annum within the next decade.
25. Ards and North Down boasts a very strong and multi-faceted agri-food industry that ranges from micro-companies to large exporting companies, many of which are high profile award-winners. Thanks to its local farmers, growers and restaurants constantly creating high quality, award-winning produce, the district is a ‘foodie haven’. It is also home to gin and whiskey distillers, a brewery and of course, being mostly surrounded by water, fantastic seafood. The development of the Strangford Lough Touring Loop will help to “pull” visitors around the destination to experience local culture, food and history and this will increase the demand for overnight accommodation. Indeed, the Council has set itself the target to host 10% of all predicted tourism overnight trips in Northern Ireland by 2030 - a projected increase for the district from 283,229 in 2016 to 507,227 in 2030 (+79%). If this goal is to be achieved, there will be a requirement for additional accommodation stock. Trends and development considerations 26. Tourism is an ever evolving industry which fulfils one of human nature’s most basic instincts – the desire to explore, learn and try new things. Therefore, destinations cannot “stand still” if they are to remain competitive. 27. There are four dominant trends that are influencing the nature of demand for tourist accommodation in rural landscapes of high scenic quality in the UK and in Europe: a) the new ‘kinship economy’ where the consumer shifts away from ‘travel experiences’ to ‘travel relationships’ and where the importance of the communal social aspects of a holiday take priority over the more traditional requirement for traditional facilities; b) the consumer’s desire for highly differentiated, local, experiences that reflect and strengthen the local ‘sense of place’ and appropriateness of the accommodation within its setting and destination;
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ANDBC – Visitor Accommodation Audit & Scoping Study SECTION Executive Summary I
c) the search for a different expression of ‘quality’ as defined by non-traditional methods of accrediting accommodation provision and which is challenging the ways in which accommodation is currently assessed by the relevant tourist authorities; and d) the role of social media and the internet as the primary communication channels to promote and market these new forms of accommodation. 28. It is increasingly apparent that the actual choice of a destination by a tourist is strongly influenced by the availability and type of interesting, different, forms of accommodation. This destination must play to this trend as it is fast becoming the ‘why’ for many tourists. 29. Importantly, there are also four dominant trends that are influencing the nature of the supply of tourist accommodation in response to these shifts in demand in high quality rural destinations: a) growing interest amongst business people (not necessarily with a hospitality background) within, or with ties to, the local community to invest in a new generation of tourist accommodation; b) the emergence of existing tourism businesses to think more creatively about their existing assets and how to develop interesting new opportunities for overnight stays – this is a matter that will be especially important in the ANDBC destination; c) recognition by operators that they can offer a range of very different types of overnight accommodation at the same property thereby providing guests with choice and access to ‘shared and communal’ facilities and services; and d) recognition by other traditional suppliers of overnight accommodation (brand hotel operators for example) that the most suitable locations for their investments will be in resorts or towns on the periphery of the rural destination. 30. The ‘kinship economy’ reflects increasing demand from tourists seeking destinations and products that offer more meaningful experiences that allow them to connect with other tourists in a communal setting and with the local community. The trend is relevant to the new global travellers and to family groups as well as the priority segments targeted by Tourism Ireland and Tourism Northern Ireland. 31. There are many examples of new product development that meet these requirements in competing destinations detailed in Section IV of the full report. The key point is that the ANDBC destination, and indeed Northern Ireland more generally, does not have much of this type of provision. The new market opportunities 32. The ANDBC Strategy seeks to utilise the unique and outstanding assets of the destination and develop them into tourism drivers that will appeal to out of state and domestic visitors by creating reasons to visit.
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ANDBC – Visitor Accommodation Audit & Scoping Study SECTION Executive Summary I
33. Reviewing the geography of the district and the identified market opportunities we feel that it can be broadly divided into 3 key zones with associated interests appealing to each of the markets identified for growth, these being:
Urban North Down – Bangor Strangford Lough west East coastline and Peninsula and Newtownards coastline area Culture Land based activities Heritage Heritage (inc. St Columbanus & Heritage (inc. Christian Water based adventure (i.e. maritime) Heritage) sailing) Events Events Landscapes Authentic local produce, Local produce Retail seafood & distilling Arts Culture Wildlife Water based activities (i.e. Horse riding Business tourism (MICE) canoeing) Food National Trust Golf Visitor attractions Wildlife Golf Touring
34. These opportunities, the assessment of new and emerging trends in the industry and our estimates of future growth potential (see paragraphs 5.14 – 5.17 of the full report), have helped inform the type and scale of development appropriate to each of those zones. 35. As noted, the choice of quality accommodation stock serving the district is limited. Additionally, there is little accommodation of any type that may be considered to be in buildings of interest, of local significance or which is authentic to the area and many have little association with their local community. The tourists’ appetite for the authentic is growing and the district needs to provide for that requirement.
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ANDBC – Visitor Accommodation Audit & Scoping Study SECTION Executive Summary I
36. Consequently, we feel that the following accommodation solutions are required:
Suggested project features markets Licensed Guest • 5 – 10 bedrooms • food trails Inn/restaurant with • high quality food offer • independent touring visitors rooms • on-site parking • Culturally Curious segment (i.e. historic property similar to The Queens Arms, Corton Denham) Boutique hotel • 4 star • Time Together segment • 25-30 bedrooms (minimum) • Great Escapers segment meeting facilities short-break Mature Cosmopolitans (i,e. @ the Chapel, • • / Curiously Cultural seeking high Manorhaus in Ruthin) • high quality restaurant / bar • small spa facility end accommodation • sea / lough views • touring visitors • golf tourism Multi-accommodation • offer a unique product • activity breaks option ideally water’s • tried and tested in Wales; • family groups edge or over water • high quality product / • Great Escapers segment bungalows, self-catering accommodation • Time Together segment units, tree houses, good quality restaurant facilities (similar to garden Village Bled, Slovenia) Guest house / bed & • up to 10 bedrooms (G/house) • Mature Cosmopolitans/ Cultural breakfast • 5 star Curious segments (i.e. historic property • food freshly prepared on site similar to The Queens Arms, Corton Denham) Self-catering • minimum 4 star • activity breaks (standalone units or • sea/water views • family groups multi units schemes) • unusual/unique properties • Great Escapers segment • close to village/town • Time Together segment Water based • minimum 4 star • activity breaks accommodation (i.e. • self-catering or B&B • family groups barge, narrow boat) • Great Escapers segment Mid-market hotel • min 70 bedrooms • activity breaks • events space • family groups • 3 star • business tourism • family friendly • groups Camping pitches / • ideally sea/water views • activity breaks motorhome stands • safe environment • family groups • close to local restaurants • Great Escapers segment • camper van stands at • touring visitors licenced guest inn or restaurants • stands/camping pitches at sites close to Nendrum, Whiterocks, Donaghadee, Portaferry.
37. Taking into account the growth, the key markets expected to be drawn to each of the 3 zones within the district, the assets within those districts and the need to broadly balance the supply of accommodation with expected levels of bedroom demand, we have summarised known and our recommended supply side movements in terms of the number of bedrooms, as follows:
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ANDBC – Visitor Accommodation Audit & Scoping Study SECTION Executive Summary I
Urban North 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 - Down – 2030 Bangor and Newt’ards Hotels 80** 80-100 GH/B&B/GA 10 10 S/catering* 10 * includes glamping, water bungalow, tree house, etc. ** Premier Inn
East 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 - coastline 2030 and Peninsula Hotels 30 75 GH/B&B/GA 10 S/catering* 5 10 * includes glamping, water bungalow, tree house, etc.
Strangford 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 - Lough west 2030 coastline area Hotels GH/B&B/GA 10 10 10 10 S/catering* 5 * includes glamping, water bungalow, tree house, etc.
38. These are simply estimates of the type and scale of new accommodation supply appropriate to the destination. Ultimately, market forces and the private sector will decide what to develop, where to develop and when. Any considerations in this regard should be based on a thorough and up to date assessment of the performance of tourism in the district and its future prospects at the relevant time. With environmental matters gaining momentum and criticism of tourism’s role in adding to the global warming problem, where environmentally sustainable projects can be developed and combined with leading edge facilities for those with disabilities, then such developments would not only fit neatly within the council’s blue and green agenda, but would create a point of differential for those developments. 39. Based on our estimates and assumptions, we have projected that the demand for hotel bedrooms could increase by an average of almost 8% per annum between 2019 and 2030. The number of guest house, bed & breakfast and guest accommodation bedrooms demanded is estimated to increase by an average of 4% per annum while self-catering is expected to increase by an average of 3% per annum. Graphs charting the annual average bedroom occupancy rates in each case are shown in Section V of the full report.
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ANDBC – Visitor Accommodation Audit & Scoping Study SECTION Executive Summary I
40. Based on the assumptions, the demand for accommodation across the district could increase by 101% by 2030. The profile of demand may change as follows:
2018 2030 G/H, G/H, B&B Self B&B Self Estimated market Hotel Hotel demand for Guest cater’g Guest cater’g accommodation Inn Inn Room nights % Room nights % Corporate/MICE 17,096 2,706 807 18% 29,935 3,432 1,024 15% Leisure 28,641 17,140 20,439 57% 95,218 30,194 36,007 69% Groups/tours 8,275 - - 7% 13,949 - - 6% VFR 5,000 2,706 12,556 18% 5,629 2,988 13,864 10% Council district total 59,013 22,552 33,803 100% 144,731 36,615 50,895 100% Total rooms occupied 115,367 232,240
What can ANDBC do to help with future development?
41. ANDBC’s integrated Strategy places tourism as a central pillar of the economic development of the district. As part of its collaboration in the Belfast Region City Deal, the redevelopment of Bangor waterfront and plans for development at Whitespots in Newtownards will help to strengthen the tourism offer and re-position the district as a destination in its own right, but these developments do not take away from the natural attractions of the area and its relationship with the sea. The Council clearly has the primary role to play in growing tourism, but it cannot achieve that objective in the absence of wide-ranging collaboration and the proactive management and promotion of the destination on a number of fronts, including: a) there must be a focus on assisting potential developers to navigate matters around planning and grant assistance and where possible, to ensure that projects are progressed as quickly as possible. In this context, the range of possible accommodation projects set out above should be assessed by the Planning Department within Council on an initial basis to determine if any insurmountable planning related matters are likely to arise if similar propositions come forward; b) consulting with local private sector businesses regarding their need for commercial accommodation and related services (i.e. meeting room/conference space hire) and the frequency of that need with a view to better informing hotel (or other accommodation) requirements. As part of those consultations, establish the extent to which accommodation demand is being forfeited to other council districts and why this is the case; c) working with the key private sector businesses to develop conference ambassadors with a view to driving conference trade to the destination in the way that VisitBelfast has successfully developed its ambassador programme; d) engaging with the industry and collaborating with NISRA to secure monthly performance statistics for each of the 3 zones referenced above and for the hotel sector particularly. If we can secure 100% response from the hotels in the district, there is no reason why they will not contribute to official statistics produced by NISRA. This will be useful in tracking performance at a more localised level and it will assist in assessing the impact of any interventions by the Council and the impact of new accommodation developments. It will also assist any developer in considering the nature and scale of any project that may be relevant to the destination and in constructing an argument for capital grant support; e) in circumstances where NISRA is unable to provide more detailed information, ANDBC should consider compiling its own performance statistics on a zonal basis through direct consultation with accommodation providers. Information requested
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ANDBC – Visitor Accommodation Audit & Scoping Study SECTION Executive Summary I
should include bedroom and bed-space occupancy rates (or self-catering unit occupancy) by accommodation category, average length of stay, reasons to visit and the nationality of visitors. The detail should be provided for each month, but be requested on a quarterly basis. Ideally, a sufficient sample of accommodation providers will participate in each zone – this may be encouraged by sharing the average results with those participants for benchmarking purposes. Over time, this will help to build a more robust picture of demand across the region and can be used to measure actual performance against the targets set out in the integrated Strategy; f) “making the case” to Invest NI, Tourism NI and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to support the integrated Strategy and appropriate private sector led projects arising from it. This should include action designed to drive additional visitor numbers during the “shoulder” seasons when accommodation capacity is under-utilised; g) hosting annual benchmarking / best practice trips to successful destinations / accommodation providers to ensure that the local stakeholders fully understand the expectations of tourists and are encouraged to make relevant provision. Destinations could include Bregenz and Bregenzerwald and, or, Saalfelden- Leogang in Austria to experience how local families have developed a range of accommodation facilities that reflect the positioning and the identity of the destination, Pembrokeshire in Wales (our case study destination) or south Somerset where a number of benchmark businesses are based (as referenced in Section IV of the full report); h) assisting the private sector to identify business and service weaknesses and to make improvements; i) actively engaging with Airbnb and similar platforms and with appropriately certified accommodation providers and with prospective providers (for small operators these may be the only booking channels they use) to develop an appropriate promotional strategy for the area; j) engaging with inbound tour operators and incentive travel organisers to determine their requirements and to promote the destination and collaborating with local accommodation and service providers to develop products/services that meet the needs of those markets. It will take time to build relationships with the tour operators and incentive travel organisers and those relationships will require ongoing nurturing in what is a very competitive marketplace. Council must commit to doing so through face to face meetings at home and overseas, through the organisation of FAM (familiarisation) trips in collaboration with the local industry and by attendance at key industry events such as the World Travel Market; and k) “prime” the major banks by informing them of the Council’s tourism objectives, the targets for growth and the associated key markets, how the objectives will be achieved and to update them on development projects that may require funding.
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ANDBC – Visitor Accommodation Audit & Scoping Study Appendix A
Distribution map of
tourist accommodation in the council district
Unclassified
ITEM 16
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Tourism Service
Date of Report 13 May 2019
File Reference 180614
Legislation Not Applicable
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:
Subject NOM Update on North Channel Swim signage and medal
Attachments None
Background
Officers had brought a report to Committee in response to a 2016 Notion of Motion regarding ways to develop a programme of recognition and promotion of the North Channel Swim between Donaghadee and Portpatrick. The Committee deferred the report pending development of the Integrated Tourism, Regeneration and Development Strategy.
Further to this, in May 2018 two Members jointly presented a NOM proposing a plaque to acknowledge that the swim is part of the “Oceans Seven” challenge. The Member who had brought the 2016 NOM asked that officers consider some of the recommendations contained in the original 2016 report in their report for the 2018 NOM, including the production of an interpretive panel and commemorative medal for swimmers successfully completing the North Channel Swim.
Page 1 of 2
Unclassified
Update
The Members who brought the 2018 NOM are content that an interpretive panel should be produced as opposed to a plaque. The Tourism section submitted an application for consent for this to the Planning Department on 13 December 2018. The Planning section has advised that this application should come before June Committee for approval. The location will be the promenade close to the slipway where the “Chunky Dunkers” enter the harbour.
Officers have been finalising photographs and text for the panel in anticipation of planning being granted. This includes details on the North Channel Swim, Tom Blower (the first Briton to complete the swim in 1947) and the “Oceans Seven” challenge of which the North Channel is one swim of seven. Information on the swim has been on the visitardsandnorthdown.com website for several months.
With regards to the striking of a commemorative medal to be presented to swimmers, two designs will be presented to September 2019 Council for consideration and approval of one design for striking.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that Council notes this report.
Page 2 of 2
Unclassified
ITEM 17
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Tourism Service
Date of Report 17 May 2019
File Reference TO/TD51
Legislation
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:
Subject NOM Update on Scrabo Tower Signage
Attachments Appendix 1 Letter from Department of Communities - Historic Environment Division
In March 2019, the following Notice of Motion was submitted and adopted by Council.
‘That this Council writes to DfC requesting the signage on the approach road to Scrabo Tower, to indicate car parking and the path to the Tower, be made more obvious for the information of visitors unfamiliar to the area’.
The Head of Tourism wrote to Mr Greenway, the Director of Historic Environment Division in April 2019. The response was received on 15 May 2019 and is attached as Appendix 1.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Council notes the attached response and writes to Mr Greenway thanking him for his attention to the matter.
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Historic Environment Division Ground Floor NiNE Lanyon Place Belfast Sharon Mahaffy BT1 3LP Ards and North Down Borough Council Signal Centre 2 Innotec Drive Balloo Road Bangor Your ref: BT197PD Our ref: DOW 5:90
15 May 2019
Dear Sharon
Thank you for your letter dated 11 April 2019 regarding the Notice of Motion request that states ‘the signage on the approach road to Scrabo Tower, to indicate car parking and the path to the Tower, be made more obvious for the information of visitors unfamiliar to the area.’
Scrabo Tower and Hillfort are State Care monuments under the ownership of the Historic Environment Division, Department for Communities. We have worked over recent years to reinstate access to the Tower in conjunction with the National Trust, and the placing of new material in the Tower. The Tower opened again for this year earlier this month.
The Department does not, however, have any jurisdiction over the car park or access routes to the monuments; these are under the management of Scrabo Country Park, Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. We do, however have a sign post at the bottom of the hill to the Tower which currently holds our regulatory signage. Our title sign ‘Scrabo Tower and Hillfort’ is being commissioned and will be in place later in the year. It will be placed at the bottom of the hill on the same poles as the regulatory signage. This should make it easier for visitors to the area to identify the beginning of the access route to the Tower.
With regards to the signage to indicate the car park, HED contacted DAERA on 29 March 2019. They informed us that they are currently working through plans to develop new signage for Scrabo Country Park which will include directional signage and new interpretation panels. It has been agreed that we will work together to keep the directional signage styles consistent across the site so as not to confuse the visitors. However, we have not yet been given a timeframe for this, responsibility for which rests with DAERA.
In the meantime, DAERA has agreed to allow HED to use their information panel within the car park to post notices for Scrabo Tower. We are currently displaying the opening times and admission prices to the Tower on this information panel.
I hope this helps to address the Notice of Motion; if you require anything further please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely,
Name Iain Greenway Title / Business Area Director Historic Environment Division
Unclassified
ITEM 18
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development
Date of Meeting 6 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Tourism Service
Date of Report 22 May 2019
File Reference TO/TD 15
Legislation
Section 75 Compliant Yes If other, please add comment below:
Subject Tourism Performance Report Q4 2018/19
Attachments
Context
Members will be aware that Council is required, under the Local Government Act 2014, to have in place arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the exercise of its functions. To fulfil this requirement Council approved the Performance Management Policy and Handbook. The Performance Management Handbook outlines the approach to Performance Planning and Management process as:
• Community Plan – published every 10-15 years • Corporate Plan – published every 4 years (2015-2019 plan in operation) • Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) – published annually (2018/19 plan published 30 June 2018) • Service Plan – developed annually (approved April 2018)
The Corporate Plan 2015-19 sets out 17 objectives for the plan period based on themes of People, Place, Prosperity and Performance. The Council’s 16 Service Plans outline how each respective Service will contribute to the achievement of the Page 1 of 5
Unclassified
Corporate objectives including, but not limited to, any relevant actions identified in the PIP.
Reporting approach
The Service Plans will be reported to relevant Committees on a quarterly basis as undernoted:
Reference Period Reporting Month Quarter 1 (Q1) April – June September Q2 July – September December Q3 October – December March Q4 January - March June
The report for Quarter 4 of 2018/19 is attached.
Key points to note:
• The Food and Drink Development Officer and Marketing Officer were recruited in Q4. The Food Officer is in post and successfully building key relationships internally and externally. The Borough Marketing Manager has been recruited and will take up post on 3 June 2019. • The tourism team attended 32 outreach programme events/ promotions out of a target of 35 for the full year. 23 against a target of 15 in the first six months and 9 out of a target of 20 in the second half. The missed target was as a result of staffing shortages across casuals in the last quarter.
Key achievements:
• Annual PR target exceeded by 32%. • The annual target for events attendance was exceeded by 4%. • Staff structure is now complete. • A series of collaborative projects are in progress including other Local Authority partners, external agencies and local operators. • Ezine target met and social media and website updates targets were exceeded during a time of reduced resource in staffing in the marketing unit. • Completion of Visitor Accommodation Audit and Scoping Study. • The Food and Drink Development Officer and Marketing Officer were recruited in Q4. • It should noted that the tourism team attended 32 outreach programme events/ promotions out of a target of 35 for the full year. 23 against a target of 15 in the first six months and 9 out of a target of 20 in the second half. The missed target was as a result of staffing shortages across casuals in the last quarter.
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Emerging issues:
• The Events unit is currently under resourced due to a vacant post (yet to be filled) and a further officer due to leave on Maternity in June (yet to be filled). • The Tourism Service continues to be very busy with 2019 events programme well underway and work progressing on the Visitor Proposition, Borough Events Strategy and Food Destination Development Plan. • The section is also integrally involved in supporting some major capital projects with partner organisations and in the Bangor Waterfront and Whitespots Country Park project with the Belfast City Deal.
Action to be taken:
• Service work plan to managed in line with emerging roles within City Deal workings groups.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Council notes this report.
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Quarterly Performance Report - Tourism
Generated on: 22 May 2019
Last Update Q4 2018/19
Performance PI Short Name Performance Data Performance Data Data Traffic Current Value Current Target Light Icon Delivery of ezines to tourism trade database 4 4
Delivery of new CRM system 30-Jun-2018 30-Jun-2018
No. of tourist information touch points 38 38
% spend against budget 92.33% 100%
% staff attendance 97.91% 95%
No. of collaborative projects 4 4
Value of PR secured via press, online, radio and tv coverage £819,249.00 £620,000.00
Refresh online content weekly/monthly (web update sets) 70 52
Refresh online content weekly/monthly (social media posts) 117 20
Number of attendees at events 163,500 157,000
Last Update H2 2018/19
Performance PI Short Name Performance Data Performance Data Data Traffic Current Value Current Target Light Icon No. of market research models implemented 8 3
% staff reporting regular pride in performance conversations 100% 100%
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Performance PI Short Name Performance Data Performance Data Data Traffic Current Value Current Target Light Icon Outreach programme 9 20
Promote the destination specifically through Destination Campaigns 2 2
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ITEM 19
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development Committee
Date of Meeting 6 June 2019
Responsible Director Choose an item.
Responsible Head of Head of Economic Development Service
Date of Report 19 May 2019
File Reference 160167
Legislation
Section 75 Compliant Yes X☐ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:
Subject Economic Development Performance Report Q4 2018-2019
Attachments
Context
Members will be aware that Council is required, under the Local Government Act 2014, to have in place arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the exercise of its functions. To fulfil this requirement Council approved the Performance Management Policy and Handbook. The Performance Management Handbook outlines the approach to Performance Planning and Management process as:
• Community Plan – published every 10-15 years • Corporate Plan – published every 4 years (2015-2019 plan in operation) • Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) – published annually (2018/19 plan published 30 June 2018) • Service Plan – developed annually (approved April 2018)
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The Corporate Plan 2015-19 sets out 17 objectives for the plan period based on themes of People, Place, Prosperity and Performance. The Council’s 16 Service Plans outline how each respective Service will contribute to the achievement of the Corporate objectives including, but not limited to, any relevant actions identified in the PIP.
Reporting approach
The Service Plans will be reported to relevant Committees on a quarterly basis as undernoted:
Reference Period Reporting Month Quarter 1 (Q1) April – June September Q2 July – September December Q3 October – December March Q4 January - March June
The report for the first Quarter of 2018/19 is attached.
Key points to note:
• One of the reasons for the variation of spend against budget is due to some of the collaborative programmes taking longer to implement than anticipated due to getting collective agreements and Letters of Offer in place. • Bookings of the Signal Facility have generated more income than estimated which has offset spend against budget. • Some of the targets that have been missed in this financial year, in regard to implementation of plans and programmes, are due to the delay in recruiting officers into post and the delay in getting collective agreements and Letters of Offer in place as mentioned above but this will be rectified in the coming year. There has also been some modification to plans to make some interventions more fit for purpose e.g. the LPWAN project – instead of diluting the amount of assistance, it was agreed to have a lesser number of companies but an increased level of support to deliver better outcomes.
Key achievements:
• Posts within the ED Service Area have been assimilated and only one post remains to be filled due to retirement. • There have been challenges in keeping the Business Start programme on track to meet targets but due to active management and input by officers, targets have been met. • The establishment of the ED Forum as an outworking of the Integrated Strategy was achieved. • The Economic Development Conference which took place in March 2019 received extremely positive feedback from attendees with requests for more of the same calibre going forward.
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Emerging issues:
• While the ED Forum has been established more work needs to be done to ensure that it will deliver outcomes to meet business needs and help to deliver the objectives of our strategy. • Long-term staff sickness is affecting the delivery of some of the business support services. • Targets for the Business Start programme have been managed but will present challenges going forward and will require constant monitoring and actions to ensure the performance is maintained.
Action to be taken:
• Regular quarterly meetings with the delivery agents for the Business Start programme have now been agreed and will include the enterprise agencies parent organisation, Enterprise NI to ensure the programme targets and any related issues are flagged and remedial actions agreed to ensure programme funding requirements are met. • Resources will be redirected to ensure programmes that have been late starting or been affected by staff absence will be supported to enable effective delivery over the coming year. • New forms of engagement with the local business base will be evaluated to ensure more effective communication and delivery based on needs.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Council notes this report.
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Economic Development
Generated on: 22 May 2019
Last Update Q4 2018/19
Performance PI Short Name Performance Data Performance Data Data Traffic Current Value Current Target Light Icon % spend against budget 88.04% 100%
% staff attendance 89.01% 95%
Satisfaction levels within all reports should be maintained above 80% 92% 80%
Effective draw down and utilisation of grant claims 100% 100%
Monitor contracts through operational agreements via monthly and quarterly meetings 100% 100%
No of workshops/group interventions 14 7
No of 1:1 Business Advice sessions 45 35
Increase the use of business research services 32 35
Number of businesses registering on the database 35 100
No of new jobs promoted through NIBSUP 29 29
No of new Social Enterprises 4 10
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Last Update H2 2018/19
Performance PI Short Name Performance Data Performance Data Data Traffic Current Value Current Target Light Icon Number of meetings Economic Development Forum 3 1
Pride and Performance interview completed and including review will all staff 100% 20%
Last Update 2018/19
Performance PI Short Name Performance Data Performance Data Data Traffic Current Value Current Target Light Icon Conduct annual business survey 1 1
Development and maintenance of a new website and diagnostic tool 1 1
Establish 2 sector specific networks 2 2
Team Brief to be communicated to all available staff monthly (unless Sick or on leave) 100% 100%
Delivery of the Year 1 elements of the FDDP 0% 100%
Creation of Creative Industries Development Plan 0 1
Definition of proposition for investing and doing business in AND 1 1
Number of jobs created as a result of the Shine programme 0 16
Completion of the collaborative proposal as part of the BRCD aimed at addressing skill gaps, shortages 0 1
and sectoral needs
Number of jobs taken up by applicants as a result of the local jobs fair event 25 12
Number of participants engaged on ESF programmes 102 72
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Performance PI Short Name Performance Data Performance Data Data Traffic Current Value Current Target Light Icon Amount of ESF participants into employment 65 35
Number of connection vouchers delivered 102 150
Number of businesses taking up LPWAN Challenge 2 3
Belfast Region City Deal Digital Strategy 1 1
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ITEM 20
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development Committee
Date of Meeting 6 June 2019
Responsible Director Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Regeneration Service
Date of Report 22 May 2019
File Reference
Legislation NA
Section 75 Compliant Yes X No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:
Subject Regeneration Q4 Performance Report 2018-2019
Attachments Report
Context
Members will be aware that Council is required, under the Local Government Act 2014, to have in place arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the exercise of its functions. To fulfil this requirement Council approved the Performance Management Policy and Handbook. The Performance Management Handbook outlines the approach to Performance Planning and Management process as:
• Community Plan – published every 10-15 years • Corporate Plan – published every 4 years (2015-2019 plan in operation) • Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) – published annually (2018/19 plan published 30 June 2018) • Service Plan – developed annually (approved April 2018)
The Corporate Plan 2015-19 sets out 17 objectives for the plan period based on themes of People, Place, Prosperity and Performance. The Council’s 16 Service
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Plans outline how each respective Service will contribute to the achievement of the Corporate objectives including, but not limited to, any relevant actions identified in the PIP.
Reporting approach
The Service Plans will be reported to relevant Committees on a quarterly basis as undernoted:
Reference Period Reporting Month Quarter 1 (Q1) April – June September Q2 July – September December Q3 October – December March Q4 January - March June
The report for the fourth Quarter of 2018/19 is attached.
Key points to note:
• Underspend due to projects both within the Rural and Urban Sections still being finalised. It has taken more time than first anticipated to get community buy-in for some projects. DfC did provide funding for some schemes, but as their budgets are on an annual basis this has hampered the development of schemes that cannot be delivered in that financial year. • Two posts remain unfilled however the recruitment process is now in progress. • Over the course of the year three members of staff within the Urban Development Section were off on long term sick. This did effect the work that was able to be undertaken. • An extension of the Rural Development Programme to December 2019 with all works to be completed by the Autumn of 2020 has been issued by DAREA.
Key achievements:
• A number of Urban projects, which were part funded by DfC have been completed. The revitalisation schemes have been well received. • P24 operating at full capacity. • Village renewal projects have been identified and works has commenced on some. • The Ballywalter Lime Kiln’s project has been submitted for funding under the Coastal Communities Fund. • Portaferry Town Steering Group has been formed and work on the Public Realm Scheme is ongoing.
Emerging issues:
• Large number of projects are ongoing concurrently. • DAREA has agreed that the time frame for the completion of projects funded by the RDP has been extended to 2020.
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• The Bangor Waterfront project has commenced with very tight time frames for deliverer of the Outline Business Case.
Action to be taken:
• Ongoing review of projects to be undertaken. • Continue to lobby DfC to agree a three-year work plan and funding package. • To try and commit all the RDP funding to projects as soon as possible.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Council notes this report.
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Unclassified
Quarterly Performance Report - Regeneration Unit
Generated on: 22 May 2019
Last Update Q4 2018/19
Performance PI Short Name Performance Data Performance Data Data Traffic Current Value Current Target Light Icon % spend against budget 75.75% 100%
% staff attendance 79.95% 95%
Occupancy level at Project 24 100% 100%
Last Update H2 2018/19
Performance PI Short Name Performance Data Performance Data Data Traffic Current Value Current Target Light Icon No of staff meetings 26 20
No of staff engagement sessions about service delivery 3 3
Pride and Performance review complete with all staff 100% 20%
To run events at Project 24 4 3
New Chambers of Commerce 2-year Business Plans 5 3
Jobs created from the Rural Development Programme funding 24 14
Manage the full commitment of the Rural Development Programme budget £1,678,130.00 £1,597,366.00
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ITEM 21
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Tourism Service
Date of Report 13 May 2019
File Reference TO/VIC4
Legislation N/A
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☐ No ☐ Not Applicable ☒
Subject Annual Review of Ards and Bangor Visitor Information Centres 2018/2019
Attachments Appendix 1 - Ards and Bangor VIC individual statistics
Background
This report provides an overview of Ards and Bangor Visitor Information Centres (VICs) combined for the financial year of 2018/2019. Data specific to each Centre can be found in Appendix1. The Committee received end of year reports for the two seasonal VICs, at Groomsport and Portaferry, in December 2018.
Introduction
The Tourism unit manages two permanent Visitor Information Centres. Both Centres open daily, Monday–Saturday with Bangor VIC open on Sunday afternoons June through August. These patterns reflect demand and Bangor’s status as a seaside town with a Sunday town centre offering.
Ards and Bangor Visitors and Enquiries
Visitors gain information from a wide range of sources. In particular information retrieval via digital platforms/electronic devices has had an associated impact on physical footfall to VICs nationally. However Tourism NI’s Visitor Information Plan (2017) found that VICs are still used by 39% visitors at some stage of their trip. An internal review of Ards VIC only, in 2018, observed that the Centre had maintained Page 1 of 9
Unclassified steady visitor numbers for the previous three years. This highlights that VICs retain value for visitors along their journey even within a challenging information climate.
The TNI Plan also, while acknowledging the digital impact, noted that the requirement for traditional print materials and face to face engagement remain important, especially among older visitors. The need for mixed information provision therefore remains.
Overall, 88% of VIC customers visited the two VICs in person. Excluding self-service visitors or “browsers”, a total of 50,357 customers were serviced via various platforms - direct engagement at the counter, telephone, post, fax and email, with 44,274 customers serviced face to face. In comparison to the previous year face to face enquiries increased by 12%, the biggest increase across enquiry types.
In terms of visitor nationality, both VICs reflect the national trend, where most visitors are domestic/circulate within Northern Ireland. Together the two VIC serviced 79% domestic and 21% out of state customers.
While overall enquiries to the centres have dropped and are down against target, these targets have not altered since merger or in line with changes in user shifts to digital etc. It is planned to update the targets for 2019/20 accordingly.
APRIL 18 - APRIL 17 - VARIANCE TOTAL TARGET MARCH 19 MARCH 18 YEAR ON YEAR ACHIEVED YEAR TARGET VISITORS TO THE CENTRES 46,458 48,799 -2,341 - - ENQUIRY TYPE VISITORS 44,274 39,377 4,897 - - FACE TO FACE ENQUIRIES SELF-SERVICE 2,423 9,401 -6,978 - - VISITORS/BROWSERS ENQUIRIES Post/Fax/Email 1,243 487 756 - - ENQUIRIES Phone 4,840 5,619 -779 - - TOTAL SERVICED 52,780 54,884 -2,104 66,900 79%
APRIL 18 – ENQUIRIES NATIONALITY MARCH 19 % OF TOTAL NORTHERN IRELAND 36,793 79%
UK & ROI 4,957 11%
REST OF WORLD 4,413 9%
BROWSERS 54 1% NATIONALITY UNKNOWN TOTAL 46,217 100%
Web and digital visitor servicing
As previously highlighted, online and digital platforms continue to grow in delivering visitor servicing to the customer and VIC staff will increasingly facilitate user demand for digital content as part of their role. For example the Visitor Information Advisors (VIAs) have become increasingly involved in delivery of the visitardsandnorthdown.com website,
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Unclassified freeing up resources within the Tourism marketing team, while continuing to produce the consumer ezine and weekly events email, ‘What’s On’. VIAs also assist substantially with social media delivery.
Website
The importance of our website and the continual updating and refreshed content is clear from the 2018/19 statistics, with an increase in unique visitors and page views from 2017/18 of 276% and 193% respectively.
Unique Visitor and Page View Comparisons: Unique Unique % Unique Page Unique Page % Increase Visitors Visitors Increase Views Views 18/19 17/18 18/19 17/18 483,534 150,355 276% 933,771 483,534 193%
The above figures include users seeking event information (over 51,000) and “things to do” (almost 19,000 as below).
Page View Comparisons examples: Page Page Views Page Views Unique Page Unique 18/19 17/18 Views Page Views 18/19 17/18 Events 51,504 29,533 17,618 17,041 Things to do 18,952 7,404 6,766 4,293 Resources/downloadable 1,720 1,842 681 1,281 guides
Summary: Annual specific VIC related page visits 1st April 2018–31st March 2019 Page Page Views Unique Page Views* Events 51,504 17,618 Things to do 18,952 6,766 Where to Stay 4,787 1,748 VIC Contact Us Page 2,489 1,100 Experiences 2,980 1,134 Resources 48 22 Resources – Downloadable Guides 1,720 681 *Unique page views discount multiple views of the same page within a single session. If a user views the same page more than once in a session, this will count only as a single unique page view.
External websites
The VIC staff are the primary contributors to updated listings within Tourism NI’s website, discoverni.com, and the popular whatsonni.com website. This ensures Ards and North Down is represented fully on these key external digital platforms, which have a much larger reach than could be achieved with the visitardsandnorthdown website, given current resources.
Social media
Currently VIC staff provide content to Corporate Communications for social media posts regarding tourism activity on AND’s corporate Facebook page and Instagram. Further,
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Ards VIC staff maintain the Visit Strangford Lough Facebook feed, which has been retained from legacy council days, to actively promote Destination Strangford Lough, one of 10 key destinations currently promoted by Tourism NI on discoverni.com. The DSL Facebook page now has over 3,700 followers, a 42% increase on last year. Throughout 2018/19, over 800 new customers ‘liked’ the page – the number of Likes continues to grow organically, with daily posts scheduled by the VIC team. The Tourism section will also begin operating its own social media channels, primarily targeted at visitors from beyond the borough, by the end of summer this year the VIC staff will play an integral role in the development, compilation of content for and facilitation of user generated enquiries through these channels.
Ezine activity
A quarterly event ezine was distributed to over 3,380 consumers and 414 trade members during the year through to Autumn 2018, a 5% increase in reach over the previous year. Unfortunately, the obligation for Council to comply with strict General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) has resulted in a large drop in subscribers as customer data previously compiled could not be retained if customers did not proactively “opt in” to continue receiving marketing communications. While the team are working on building databases up again, at outreach events and in all other ways possible, increasing numbers to previous levels is challenging, with the current figure standing at approximately 1,400.
The weekly “What’s On” email was sent to over 1,300 customers comprising the local tourism trade, other local businesses and members of the public registered to receive AND visitor information.
Income
Whilst visitor information provision is the core function of the VICs, both also have a retail offer comprising mainly souvenirs, books and relatively low value gifts, in line with demand. Commission on tickets adds to total income generated, which is up by 16% against target, matching last year’s performance.
Both VICs encourage sales via special promotions, e.g. Christmas/Mother’s Day/ Valentine’s Day, and regularly re-merchandise stock to attract new/refreshed footfall. The VICs also actively advertise the ticket agent service for local events and operate as a sales agent for external events.
VARIANCE TOTAL SALES & APRIL 18 - APRIL 17- YEAR ON YEAR TARGET COMMISSIONS £ MARCH 19 MARCH 18 YEAR TARGET ACHIEVED Retail sales £34,114 £33,858 £256 £29,500 116% Booking fees £41 £52 -£11 n/a Ticket sales commission £2,629 £2,835 -£206 £1,900 138% Total income £36,785 £36,745 £40 Total income ex vat £31,576 £31,652 -£76 £31,400 101%
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Visitor Information Provision external of Ards and Bangor VICs
The VIC service disseminates visitor information across NI and throughout the Borough to diverse information points, in excess of 90,000 pieces during the year. Approximately 50 sites between Belfast City Airport, Killinchy and Portaferry stock literature distributed by VIAs, including local restaurants, bars, attractions and Translink bus and rail stations. This is in addition to the information for the Local Information Office (Pier 36), and the Cockle Row and Portaferry seasonal Visitor Information Centres. The 90,000 pieces include the literature provided for events, both Council-run and grant-aided, distribution to the NI wide Visitor Centre network and information packs provided for incoming group visits.
Outreach Activity
During the year VIC staff serviced the mobile Visitor Information Unit at major Council events and those third party events which receive a Tourism Grant Event. There was a VIC presence at Easter and May Day, Sea Bangor, the Comber Earlies Food Festival, Craft in the Square and the Portavogie Seafood Festival, to mention but a few. In addition, the VICs operated at a number of locations/platforms outside the borough including:
• Holiday World Dublin • Garden Show Ireland • Balmoral Show • Belfast Welcome Centre information desk
In total the VIC Team took the visitor servicing provision to 19 different events/locations over 32 days and serviced over 7,000 enquiries. This activity will continue in 2019/20 and the aim is to expand it over time, particularly in out of borough locations.
Exhibitions
Ards VIC hosted a number of exhibitions in ‘The Space’ gallery area within the centre including:
• Ulster Folk & Transport Museum - Early 1900s World of Crafts • Department for Communities - Christian Heritage • Ards Historical Society - A History of the Great Ardes and Newtown • Donaghadee Heritage Preservation Company - Princess Victoria Disaster and the Sir Samuel Kelly • Echlinville Distillery
These exhibitions continue to prove very popular, adding to the visitor experience in the centre and as a tool to promote footfall, it is hoped that this will continue in 2019/20.
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Tourism NI Mystery Shopper – Independent Customer Service Assessment
Tourism NI conducts an annual audit of customer service provided by the VICs. This comprises a visit, phone call and email enquiry and has been extended into assessing visitor information touch points (TIPs) within the Borough. The latter are maintained by third party organisations (tourism businesses, attractions etc) on behalf of the Council, so are not continually under the Council’s control. Some of the elements scored during the Mystery Shop are:
• Signage • First impressions • Customer service experience • Literature and retail • Information gathering • Overall experience
The report rated the customer experience in Bangor VIC at 95% and Ards VIC 90% in 2018. The NI Network best practice score is 85%. Both VICs are to be commended on this achievement and the very high level of customer service.
VIC Performance Differences
As Appendix 1 illustrates, there are some notable performance differences between Ards VIC and Bangor VIC. Ards VIC serviced approximately twice the number of enquiries as Bangor, however Bangor serviced more genuine (i.e. out of borough) visitors. Likely explanations for this include Ards VIC’s busier location (on a busy shopping street beside the bus station) and its partnership, up until March 2019, with Ards Crafts. Bangor’s VIC exposure to visitors could undoubtedly be improved by a less peripheral location in the town. With Ards Crafts closure in 2019, the impact on Ards VICs visitor numbers will be monitored during 2019/20.
Summary
Although there continues to be a very challenging environment for the VIC network nationally, the Council’s visitor information service has engaged with over 135,000 customers via its VICs and electronic communications. When visits to visitardsandnorthdown.com (over 480,000 visitors) are added, the total is over 600,000 visitors engaged across all activities throughout the year. The service offered by both VICs has been evaluated independently as being of a standard exceeding the national network average.
Against an ambitious target for overall visitor/enquiry numbers in the challenging environment, the centres have fallen slightly short, but have achieved an increase in face to face enquiries and retail sales, demonstrating that visitors still seeking direct/personalised information and spending in the Centres.
A marketing campaign will take place during the summer of 2019 to generate awareness of the VICs and drive additional footfall. Plans to work with the two town
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Chambers are underway with both VICs having been involved already in events where the Chamber is a major partner (the 2019/20 Easter event).
Changes to Ards VIC and the configuration of its premises at 31 Regent Street will be implemented in the coming months, flowing from the closure in March 2019 of Ards Crafts. The VIC will become a standalone service there, while maintaining an element of lower end, small, locally produced craft within its retail offering.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that Council notes this report.
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Appendix 1 Ards Visitor Information Centre
VIC Enquiries/Visitors Ards Ards VIC serviced 33,056 customers.
ANNUAL % APRIL 18 – APRIL 17 - COMPARISON TARGET Achieved MARCH 19 MARCH 18 VISITORS TO THE CENTRES 31,669 35,049 -3,380 ENQUIRIES TYPE VISITORS FACE TO FACE ENQUIRIES 29,700 25,916 3,784 SELF-SERVICE VISITORS/”BROWSERS” 2,208 9,133 -6,925 901 731 ENQUIRIES Post/Fax/Email 170 ENQUIRIES Phone 2,455 2,127 328 TOTAL 35,264 37,346 -2,082 38,400 92%
Visitor Nationality Breakdown
ENQUIRER NATIONALITY APRIL 18 – MARCH 19 % OF TOTAL NORTHERN IRELAND 27,572 83% UK & ROI 3,005 9% REST OF WORLD 2,288 7% BROWSERS 35 1% NATIONALITY UNKNOWN TOTAL 32,900 100%
Income
The retail income generated by Ards VIC was up on 2017/18.
VARIANCE TOTAL APRIL 18 - APRIL 17 - YEAR ON YEAR TARGET SALES & COMMISSIONS £ MARCH 19 MARCH 18 YEAR TARGET ACHIEVED
RETAIL SALES £17,865 £17,178 £687 £14,400 124% TICKET SALES COMMISSION £342 £406 -£64 £500 68% BOOKING FEE £17 TOTAL INCOME £18,224 £17,584 £640 TOTAL INCOME EX VAT £15,929 £15,412 £517 £14,900 107%
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Bangor Visitor Information Centre
VIC Enquiries/Visitors Bangor Bangor VIC serviced 17,301 customers.
APRIL 18 - APRIL 17 - VARIANCE ANNUAL TARGET MARCH 19 MARCH 18 YEAR ON TARGET ACHIEVED YEAR VISITORS TO THE CENTRE 14,789 13,705 1,084 ENQUIRY TYPE VISITORS FACE TO FACE ENQUIRIES 14,574 13,461 1,113 SELF-SERVICE VISITORS/”BROWSERS” 215 268 -53 ENQUIRIES Post/Fax/Email 342 317 25 ENQUIRIES Phone 2385 3,492 1,107 TOTAL 17,516 17,538 -22 28,500 62%
Visitor Nationality Breakdown
ENQUIRER NATIONALITY APRIL 18 - MARCH 19 % OF TOTAL NORTHERN IRELAND 9,221 69% UK & ROI 1,952 14% REST OF WORLD 2,125 16% BROWSERS – NATIONALITY UNKNOWN 19 1% TOTAL 13,317 100%
Income
The retail income generated by the VIC was marginally down on 2017/18. Commission from ticket sales up 63% against target.
VARIANCE TOTAL APRIL 18 - APRIL 17 - YEAR ON YEAR TARGET SALES & COMMISSIONS £ MARCH 19 MARCH 18 YEAR TARGET ACHIEVED £16,250 £16,680 £13,500 RETAIL SALES -£430 120% £24 £52 BOOKING FEES -£28 TICKET SALES COMMISSION £2,287 £2,429 -£142 £1,400 163% TOTAL INCOME £18,561 £19,161 -£600 TOTAL INCOME EX VAT £15,647 £16,239 -£592 £14,900 105%
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ITEM 22
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration, Development and Planning
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Tourism Service
Date of Report 13 May 2019
File Reference TO/EG40
Legislation
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:
Subject Tourism Event Grants Review 2018-19
Attachments Appendix 1 Summary of Tourism Events Grants Evaluation 2018-19
Background
As approved by Council in December 2017, Tourism Events Grants were awarded to 14 organisations for events taking place from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019.
Appendix 1 shows the targets set by the event organisers at the time of application and the outputs achieved, as submitted in their post-event evaluation documentation. All organisations have now completed their claims and all grants have been awarded.
During 2018/19 the combined total of event days across all grant-aided events was 58 days. A total budget of £81,600 was available to fund the 2018/19 programme; the actual amount drawn down was £74,112.90. This generated almost 86,000 attendees across all events. It should be noted that the attendance and bednights are estimated by the event organisers and the split between local residents and visitors to the borough is not known. Determining actual attendance and the visitor proportion is beyond the resources of the Tourism section. Tourism officers’
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Unclassified observation would be that, as with the Council’s directly run tourism events, most of the attendance is local.
Deductions were made from six organisations who had not fulfilled (self-determined) marketing objectives for their event in their initial applications, totalling £2,235.10.
Based on Tourism NI average, spectator and overnight spend values and estimate has been calculated on the return on investment for these Tourism Grant-aided events. However, it should be noted that this information is indicative only and is not based on any formal Economic Appraisals. It is, therefore, likely to err on the high side.
Spend by event attendees (based on £18 per person) £1,539,000 Accommodation value (at £55 per bednight) £733,150 Total £2,272,150
Return on investment for each Council £1 £30.66 Cost to Council per attendee £0.87
It is clear from the table that the return on investment from the tourism events grants programme is substantial, and undeniably these events are an important contributor to community cohesion. What is not clear however is how far these events contribute significantly to the achievement of targets set within the ITRDS, to grow visitor expenditure and market share significantly. Officers will continue to review methods to improve understanding of this, subject to resources.
The 2020/21 grant application process, which will launch in the autumn, is currently under review. The objective is to streamline both the application form and the guidelines further. This process will take into account feedback from applicants from last year and will also benchmark against other council grant programmes.
The outputs of the new Borough Event Strategy, currently at consultation stage, may influence the strategic direction for tourism grants in 2020/21, to achieve the overarching objectives of the Integrated Strategy for Tourism, Regeneration and Development.
Recommendation
It is recommended that Council notes this report.
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Actual Target No. Target Actual Target Actual Event Grant Grant of Actual Cost per Cost per Bed Bed Event Date Days Approved Spend Deductions Attendees Attendees Attendee Attendee Nights Nights Ultimate Strongman Ireland's Strongest Man 8 Apr 1 £10,000.00 £10,000.00 £0.00 5042 5042 £1.98 £1.98 100 100 Festivards 2018 25-28 May 4 £10,000.00 £9,500.00 £500.00 1457 700 £6.86 £13.57 92 62 Home National Deaf Bowls Champs 2018 29 June-1 July 3 £1,800.00 £1,800.00 £0.00 666 700 £2.70 £2.57 300 270 Sails and Sounds 28 June-1 July 4 £10,000.00 £9,500.00 £500.00 10000 8750 £1.00 £1.09 3,280 1470 April - June Ulster Under 16 Boys Open Golf Champs 16-18 July 3 £2,000.00 £2,000.00 - 550 575 £3.64 £3.48 270 260 Portaferry Gala Festival 14-20 July 7 £10,000.00 £9,499.90 £500.10 35000 46808 £0.29 £0.20 9,841 10000 Donaghadee Summer Festival 4-18 Aug 14 £5,000.00 £5,000.00 £0.00 12000 12067 £0.42 £0.41 100 161 Portaferry Triathlon Sat 18 Aug 1 £1,500.00 £0.00 - 1235 1000 £1.21 £0.00 45 40 Worldwide Missionary Convention 24 Aug - 1 Sep 8 £8,700.00 £8,265.00 £435.00 4700 6317 £1.85 £1.31 50 96 Clandeboye Festival 15-25 Aug 10 £6,000.00 £5,700.00 £300.00 1574 1423 £3.81 £4.01 295 200 NI Federation of Shooting Sports 20-24 Sept 4 £8,500.00 £6,844.00 555 680 £15.32 £10.06 700 420 July - September Model Railway Day at UFTM Sat 10 Nov 1 £1,200.00 £1,200.00 £0.00 1900 2488 £0.63 £0.48 24 30 Ulster Siamese & All Breed Cat Club Show & Fair Sat 17 Nov 1 £3,000.00 £904.00 - 1255 1286 £2.39 £0.70 65 61 Carol ship on Strangford Lough 7-8 Dec 2 £3,900.00 £3,900.00 5560 5000 £0.70 £0.78 158 160 Oct - Dec 14 Organisations Totals 58 £81,600.00 £74,112.90 £2,235.10 81494 85,550 £1.00 £0.87 15,320 13,330
New systems are now in place (since June 18, on appointment of Events Evaluation and Grants Officer) within the unit to better interrogate the data provided by applicants within their post evaluation forms.
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ITEM 23
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration & Development
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Finance Service
Date of Report 28 May 2019
File Reference FIN45
Legislation Section 5 Local Government Finance Act (NI) 2011
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☐ No ☐ Not Applicable ☒
Subject Regeneration and Development Budgetary Control Report – March 2019
Attachments -
This Regeneration & Development Budgetary Control Report covers the 2018/19 financial year (1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019) and is set out in Report 1 on page 3. The net cost of the service is showing an under spend of £838,355 (17.6%) – box A. The financial information is in draft form as, at time of writing, the 2018/19 financial year is still to be finalised, however, no material changes are expected.
The style of this report has been changed to help focus on the key financial issues and to make it more user friendly for Members.
Explanation of Variance
The Regeneration & Development budget performance is further analysed on page 3 into 3 key areas: -
Report Type Variance Box Report 2 Payroll Expenditure £169,598 favourable B Report 3 Non-Payroll Expenditure £284,964 favourable C Report 4 Income £383,792 favourable D
Boxes B, C and D add up to the overall favourable variance (Box A - £838,355).
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This variance can be summarised in the following table: -
Type Variance Comment £’000 Mainly due to a number of vacant posts in Payroll Costs (169.6) Regeneration (£90.6k) and Tourism (£75.8k). More grants were paid out for D’dee THI THI payments 169.6 but additional grant income was received – see below. The underspend is partially offset by not Whitespots Country (124.7) receiving budgeted grant (£75.7k) – see Park below. Bangor Waterfront Bangor Masterplan (£69.9k) and Masterplan & (159.4) Masterplan projects (£89.5k) were Masterplan Projects underspent. Public Realm Public Realm revenue spend under (56.4) Revenue budget. Village Plans This overspend is mainly offset by 95.5 Programme additional grant income – see below. Economic Underspend in Economic Development Development (51.6) projects. Projects Underspends in services such as Food Tourism (52.1) Destination Development and Tourism Development. Other Expenditure (105.9)
Additional grant income received due to THI Income (266.7) more grants paid out– see above. Village Plans Additional grant income received – see (84.4) Programme above. Signal Centre (43.6) Income higher than budget. Whitespots Country 75.7 No grant income received – see above. Park Other Income (64.8)
Total (838.4) Box A
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REPORT 1 BUDGETARY CONTROL REPORT Period 12 - March 2019 - DRAFT Year to Date Year to Date Variance Annual Variance E Actual Budget Budget O Y £ £ £ £ % £ Regeneration & Development 300 Regen, Dev & Planning HQ 331,319 458,600 (127,281) 458,600 27.8 310 Regeneration 728,973 1,148,500 (419,527) 1,148,500 36.5 320 Economic Development 1,011,165 1,148,500 (137,335) 1,148,500 12.0 340 Tourism 1,862,488 2,016,700 (154,212) 2,016,700 7.6
Total 3,933,945 4,772,300 A (838,355) 4,772,300 17.6
REPORT 2 PAYROLL EXPENDITURE BUDGETARY CONTROL REPORT
£ £ £ £ % £ Regeneration & Development - Payroll Expenditure
300 Regen, Dev & Planning HQ 137,561 136,900 661 136,900 0.5 310 Regeneration 568,668 659,300 (90,632) 659,300 13.7 320 Economic Development 603,864 607,700 (3,836) 607,700 0.6 340 Tourism 816,008 891,800 (75,792) 891,800 8.5
Total 2,126,102 2,295,700 B (169,598) 2,295,700 7.4
REPORT 3 NON-PAYROLL EXPENDITURE BUDGETARY CONTROL REPORT
£ £ £ £ % £ Regeneration & Development - Non-Payroll Expenditure
300 Regen, Dev & Planning HQ 194,591 398,200 (203,609) 398,200 51.1 310 Regeneration 815,528 765,800 49,728 765,800 6.5 320 Economic Development 914,952 993,900 (78,948) 993,900 7.9 340 Tourism 1,129,765 1,181,900 (52,135) 1,181,900 4.4
Total 3,054,836 3,339,800 C (284,964) 3,339,800 8.5
REPORT 4 INCOME BUDGETARY CONTROL REPORT
£ £ £ £ % £ Regeneration & Development - Income
300 Regen, Dev & Planning HQ (833) (76,500) 75,667 (76,500) (98.9) 310 Regeneration (655,223) (276,600) (378,623) (276,600) (136.9) 320 Economic Development (507,652) (453,100) (54,552) (453,100) (12.0) 340 Tourism (83,284) (57,000) (26,284) (57,000) (46.1)
Totals (1,246,992) (863,200) D (383,792) (863,200) (44.5)
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Committee notes this report.
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ITEM 23
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration & Development
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Head of Finance Service
Date of Report 28 May 2019
File Reference FIN45
Legislation Section 5 Local Government Finance Act (NI) 2011
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☐ No ☐ Not Applicable ☒
Subject Regeneration and Development Budgetary Control Report – April 2019
Attachments -
This Regeneration & Development Budgetary Control Report covers the first month of the 2019/20 financial year (1 April to 31 April 2019) and is set out in Report 1 on page 3. The net cost of the service is showing an under spend of £22,941 (7.2%) – box A.
Explanation of Variance
The Regeneration & Development budget performance is further analysed on page 3 into 3 key areas: -
Report Type Variance Box Report 2 Payroll Expenditure £17,419 favourable B Report 3 Non-Payroll Expenditure £ 3,105 adverse C Report 4 Income £ 8,627 favourable D
Boxes B, C and D add up to the overall favourable variance (Box A - £22,941).
This variance can be summarised in the following table: -
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Type Variance Comment £’000 Mainly due to vacant posts in Tourism Payroll Expenditure (17.4) (£10.3k) and Borough Marketing (£4.6k). Non-Payroll Expenditure 3.2
Small favourable income variances for Income (8.6) Events (£4.4k) and Signal Centre (£1.8k) Total (22.9) Box A
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REPORT 1 BUDGETARY CONTROL REPORT Period 1 - April 2019 Year to Date Year to Date Variance Annual Variance E Actual Budget Budget O Y £ £ £ £ % £ Regeneration & Development 300 Regen, Dev & Planning HQ 13,171 13,300 (129) 488,100 1.0 310 Regeneration 57,737 59,200 (1,463) 1,147,800 2.5 320 Economic Development 68,254 74,100 (5,846) 1,199,800 7.9 340 Tourism 157,597 173,100 (15,503) 2,105,000 9.0
Total 296,759 319,700 A (22,941) 4,940,700 7.2
REPORT 2 PAYROLL EXPENDITURE BUDGETARY CONTROL REPORT
£ £ £ £ % £ Regeneration & Development - Payroll Expenditure
300 Regen, Dev & Planning HQ 12,045 12,000 45 142,800 0.4 310 Regeneration 53,522 54,000 (478) 619,700 0.9 320 Economic Development 49,596 52,400 (2,804) 630,000 5.4 340 Tourism 66,018 80,200 (14,182) 1,031,800 17.7
Total 181,181 198,600 B (17,419) 2,424,300 8.8
REPORT 3 NON-PAYROLL EXPENDITURE BUDGETARY CONTROL REPORT
£ £ £ £ % £ Regeneration & Development - Non-Payroll Expenditure
300 Regen, Dev & Planning HQ 1,126 1,300 (174) 345,300 13.4 310 Regeneration 19,346 18,000 1,346 1,038,900 7.5 320 Economic Development 38,468 39,700 (1,232) 1,050,800 3.1 340 Tourism 122,365 119,200 3,165 1,140,200 2.7
Total 181,305 178,200 C 3,105 3,575,200 1.7
REPORT 4 INCOME BUDGETARY CONTROL REPORT
£ £ £ £ % £ Regeneration & Development - Income
300 Regen, Dev & Planning HQ - - 0 - 100.0 310 Regeneration (15,131) (12,800) (2,331) (510,800) (18.2) 320 Economic Development (19,810) (18,000) (1,810) (481,000) (10.1) 340 Tourism (30,787) (26,300) (4,487) (67,000) (17.1)
Totals (65,727) (57,100) D (8,627) (1,058,800) (15.1)
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Committee notes this report.
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ITEM 24
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Report Classification Unclassified
Council/Committee Regeneration and Development
Date of Meeting 06 June 2019
Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning
Responsible Head of Service
Date of Report 23 May 2019
File Reference RDP22
Legislation
Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:
Subject Belfast Region City Deal Update
Attachments AND MIPIM 2019 Brochure
1 Background
Members will be aware that the UK Government, the NICS and BRCD partners signed the ‘Heads of Terms’ for the Belfast Region City Deal (BRCD) at the end of March 2019. This is a tripartite agreement, which follows significant work by the BRCD partners to secure c£1billion investment into the region, with the aim to create 20,000 jobs:
£350 million from Treasury against the Digital and Innovation Pillar, £350 million from the NI Executive against the Infrastructure, Regeneration and Tourism Pillars and £150 million from Councils and Universities, with the aspiration to secure private sector investment on top of this.
The signing of the Heads of Terms represents the completion of Phase 1 of the BRCD. Phase 2, Delivery Development, requires the development of Outline Business Cases for all projects which, if approved, will ultimately secure the funding before moving into Phase 3, the Implementation and Financial Plan. Based on initial discussions with UK and NI Governments the following key deliverables will need to be agreed by the end of Phase 2:
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• Financial Plan and Agreement; • Deal Document – covering the detailed elements required for Phase 3; • Implementation Plan – summarising milestones for key deliverables, outputs, resources and risk mitigation for each project; • Outline Business Cases (OBCs) – full Business Cases will be required before the release of funds for an individual project.
2 Delivery Development – Phase 2
A copy of the draft timeline is detailed below.
The partners have significant work to undertake both in terms of the completion of individual project OBCs as well as the agreement of the Phase 3 plans and Programme. To support this a central Programme Office has been set up, the costs of which will be shared by the Council partners.
An Executive Board has also been established. Membership of this includes the 6 Chief Executives, 2 University Vice Chancellors, Chief Executive of the Belfast Metropolitan College, the SRO for the Deal and 2 senior officials from NICS. The Executive Board is responsible for ensuring the delivery of the BRCD programme in accordance with the requirements of the Heads of Terms.
Advisory (Pillar) Boards for each of the main workstreams have also been established. These include: • Infrastructure Advisory Board – led by DfI; • Tourism and Regeneration Advisory Board – Chaired by Stephen Reid; • Employability and Skills Advisory Board – led by Belfast MET; • Digital Advisory Board – currently being scoped; • Innovation Advisory Board – led by the Universities.
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A Joint Council Forum will also be established. It will have an oversight and leadership role and full Terms of Reference for the Forum will be brought back to a future Council meeting.
A Finance Directors Group has been set up to oversee the finance and funding plan, as has a Communication and Engagement Group to agree a joint communication plan.
Individual partners will retain responsibility for decision-making in relation to their own financial commitments. OBCs will require sign off by the project owner, in our case Council, before being considered and agreed by the BRCD Advisory Board, Executive Board and the individual Government Department responsible for the match funding. It is important, therefore, to have DfC, DfE and Tourism NI involved in the development of our OBCs. Private sector collaboration is also a key principle.
3 Project Update
As previously outlined five Advisory Infrastructure (Pillar) Boards have been established. The purpose of these Boards is to Digital ensure the development of a coherent set of projects that are capable of Innovation supporting the ambition for inclusive growth, additional jobs and increased Tourism & GVA. Regeneration Employability & Skills Employability
3.1 Digital Pillar Update As agreed in the Heads of Terms, the BRCD partners have established a joint vision to establish an integrated, mutually re-enforcing ‘digital innovation ecosystem’ that seeks to build on the region’s existing areas of research excellence and knowledge of sector success to support an innovation economy that can adapt and thrive during a period of great technological change.
The City Deal also makes the case for focused digital investments in digital infrastructure, knowledge-sharing networks and new forms of partnership working. Specifically, City Deal partners will:
1. Establish a platform and regional partnerships to share data, knowledge and tech expertise, accelerating their collective impact on the wider economy (Digital Innovation Platform Partnership);
2. Create a network of innovation spaces that stimulate business growth and reduce digital exclusion by providing ready access to technology for all (Regional Innovators Network);
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3. Deliver a flagship ‘smart district’ that will attract investment, facilitate innovation and set up a regional technology testbed programme, enabling the trialling of new technology solutions (Smart District & Regional Testbeds);
4. Provide funding for the underlying enabling digital infrastructure both across the region and between critical nodes (Infrastructure Enabling Fund).
The Bable organisation from Germany (along with experts from the Fraunhofer Society) have been brought on board by Belfast City Council on behalf of the partners to support the development of the digital strands.
During May representatives from Bable met Council officers and local companies to explore the potential for projects in our area and to understand local opportunities and challenges, as well as to discuss strengths and weaknesses in the Borough from the businesses’ perspective and to gain an understanding of their priorities.
Further engagement workshops have been scheduled for 28 and 29 May 2019 which will encompass representatives from both the public and private sector across the Belfast Region City Deal area. Following these, Bable will work towards presenting the vision for the Digital Pillar.
It is anticipated the total cost for the development of the Digital Pillar and OBCs will be in the region of £250,000 (19/20 & 20/21). This will be shared between Council partners on the agreed EPP basis. AND Share will be c£34,000, which can be met within existing budgets.
3.2 Innovation Pillar This is led by the two Universities, which are also fully funding the development costs for the OBCs. The projects within this work stream include:
• The Global Innovation Institute (GII) cross-disciplinary digital innovation hub that will draw together the leading-edge skill-sets of three of Queen’s University’s Global Research Institutes with the aim of expanding the regional cluster of hi-tech companies from 200 to 600. • The Centre for Digital Healthcare Technology (CDHT) will see the establishment of a high visibility, high quality centre for digital technology and associated living labs in the areas of cardiology, diabetes, respiratory and stroke and will support more than 550 jobs through spin outs and FDI. • The Institute for Research Excellence in Advanced Clinical Healthcare (i-REACH) is a transformative project that brings together existing clinical infrastructure from across the region to establish a state-of-the-art, integrated clinical research facility that will attract national and international investment into the region to conduct leading, large scale clinical trials. • The Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre (AMIC) will operate at the interface between academia and industry to accelerate the development of new manufacturing technology developments and ensure that real industrial challenges based on market need are solved through collaboration with the best university research. • The Screen and Media Innovation Lab will provide the Belfast region with a world-leading research and innovation centre to accelerate the growth of Page 4 of 7
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the creative industries sector with the aim of supporting the creation of the strongest performing Screen Industries sector outside London.
As these projects further develop, officers will be working with our businesses to ensure they connect to and benefit from these major innovation projects.
3.3 Infrastructure Pillar Led by DfI, planned investments include the Southern Relief Road, a strategically important route that will connect the A1 Belfast and Eastern Seaboard Corridor with the A2 Warrenpoint dual carriageway. Phase II of Belfast Rapid Transit will improve the connections between North and South Belfast, neighbouring council areas including Antrim & Newtownabbey and Lisburn & Castlereagh and the wider Belfast region, and a pedestrian and cycle-bridge across the River Lagan will improve access to Belfast City Centre. 3.4 Tourism & Regeneration Pillar Council has two key projects under this pillar, Bangor Waterfront Regeneration and Whitespots Country Park. A number of working groups, as agreed by Council, are being established to take the projects forward with the final outcome being the development of an approved OBC within the next year.
Bangor Coastal Masterplan
Covering a 2.2 mile stretch of prime waterfront land, our agreed Vision is ‘to seamlessly connect the waterfront to the rest of the town and, in so doing, provide a unique range of opportunities for residents and visitors to have their lives and businesses enriched by a mix of public spaces, creative events, activities, attractions
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The Leadership Forum and Working Groups are being established. Consultants are also being procured to work with these groups to develop an overarching Masterplan and OBC for the project, as well as individual OBCs for specific projects as required.
Whitespots Country Park
The Vision is to create a new Country Park which includes a number of distinctive visitor experiences linked by a series of Greenways. The Working Groups are being established and a number of studies are being commissioned to support the development of the OBC.
3.5 Employability & Skills Pillar The aim of the Employability and Skills Pillar is to support the other pillars to ensure the capital programme’s target, for the creation of 20,000 additional jobs, is realised. The group continues to work up the programme, details of which will be brought back to Council.
AND is also establishing an Employability and Skills Forum, as part of the Economic Development Forum. The purpose of this is to feed into the work being undertaken for the BRCD, as well as to shape current and existing employability and skills programmes and interventions within the Borough. The Forum is being supported by DfC and DfE.
4. MIPIM 2019 de-brief Council agreed to participate in the MIPIM event in Cannes, 12-15 March 2019 at a fee of £10,000, as part of the Belfast Region City Deal Partnership, with the Mayor, Chief Executive and Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning attending.
MIPIM is the premier event in the European real estate calendar where many of the world’s investors, developers and funders from both the public and private sector gather to showcase cities and investment/regeneration opportunities. Almost 27,000 people attended MIPIM 2019, which was the 30th year MIPIM has taken place and the fourth year that Belfast has exhibited.
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100 delegates attended MIPIM 2019 as part of the Belfast Region delegation. This included the BRCD partners, Universities, Belfast Harbour, Tourism NI, Translink and a range of private sector developers and professional/financial service companies.
A number of unique events were organised on the Belfast Stand, one of which the Chief Executive spoke at, highlighting the development opportunities within Ards and North Down. There was also a keynote address from Daniel Liebskind, world renowned urban place designer with notable projects including the Twin Towers site in New York City. The development opportunities were also featured in the Belfast MIPIM Investment Guide, as well as via a bespoke digital platform on the stand. The Council also produced its own Digital Guide highlighting a range of investment opportunities within the Borough, (see Appendix Attached). This Guide was used when talking to potential investors/developers and was also sent out to all interested parties post the event. (Copies were also given out via a branded USB card.) Echlinville Distillery Gin was also one of the key products displayed and used on the stand with all guests being offered to sample the product.
There was significant interest in the Belfast stand with around 600 MIPIM delegates visiting the stand, a significant increase on last year. Traditional and social media interest was also very high. The twitter account generated 8.8m impressions and reached 1.2m accounts, 20% increase on previous years.
The Council delegation had 1-1 meetings with 17 potential developers and companies interested in the Borough and many more contacts gathered. The Bangor Coastal Masterplan was of particular interest and 5 companies have since undertaken a site visit to Bangor, with two submitting formal proposal on how they would like to be involved in any future potential redevelopment, and the others have asked to be kept informed of future developments.
The BRCD partners who participated agree that there is strength in exhibiting as one collective, which provides a strong message, particularly when competing on a global stage. It is anticipated that the BRCD will collectively attend MIPIM in 2020. Although there was merit in the Mayor attending in the first year, MIPIM tends to be based on a number of working meetings and may therefore be more appropriate to be officer led. In the future the private sector led Belfast MIPM Taskforce will meet and review this years event before considering 2020.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that Council notes this report and approves: 1. Council’s contribution to the Programme Office c£15,000 2. Council’s contribution to the development of the Digital Pillar, cost c£34,000 3. Council’s participation at MIPIM 2020, at a cost of £10,000 fee with the Chief Executive and Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning (or nominees) attending.
All of the above can be met in existing budgets.
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DEVELOPMENT AND OPPORTUNITY
03 / 2019 Aberdeen Scotland
Glasgow Edinburgh
Londonderry Newcastle
Belfast
Isle of Man
Blackpool
Ireland Leeds/Bradford Manchester Dublin Liverpool
Shannon
Wales Cork England
Cardiff London Bristol
Exeter Southampton
Portrush Ballycastle
Coleraine
Londonderry
Ballymena Larne Strabane
Magherafelt
Bangor
Northern Belfast Belleek Ireland Dungannon Portadown Portaferry Enniskillen Downpatrick
Newcastle Newry
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /2 Overview
Ards and North Down (AND) is a unique location with easy access to Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. It is adjacent to Belfast; offers excellent digital and transport connectivity; is home to a highly educated workforce and an outstanding natural environment.
A place of growth and opportunity, the Borough offers a highly compelling proposition for those choosing to live, work, visit and, critically, do business here.
The natural landscape of sea, loughs and land – our BLUE:GREEN space – stimulates creativity and growth in advanced engineering, creative digital, agri-food and business services. The area attracts visitors from around the world, with a few celebrities choosing to live here as well!
The Borough has developed a thriving tourism and leisure economy, with a burgeoning food and drink and agri-food sector, making it a prime location in Northern Ireland for culinary tourists.
AND has many attractions and the following unique strengths:
Our Places Our Connectivity Our Quality of Life
An area of 590 sqkm and a coastline of George Best Belfast City Airport and AND is one of the most popular edge city 185km around our sea and loughs. Belfast Docks are less than 3.2kms from locations for employers, employees and the Borough. visitors. A population of almost 160,000, comprising five towns and 17 villages. Belfast International airport is 35kms AND is the first choice for much of away. Northern Ireland’s talent, who can enjoy a balance of city access and coastal or Travel times to major European capitals lough-side town and village lifestyle. Our People include: two hours to Dublin by road, 1 hour to London and 1.5 hours to Strangford Lough, an ‘Area of A talent base that is driving the growth Amsterdam by air. Outstanding Natural Beauty’ and of of the (NI) economy in key sectors like global environmental importance, forms financial services, technology, creative We are the number one location in the central geographical and landscape digital and advanced manufacturing. Northern Ireland for full fibre broadband feature of the area. connectivity, and we are seventh in the NI has the best education results in the UK. UK. In AND more people achieve higher qualifications than the NI average.
Access to two world class universities and a Top 30 UK College.
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /3 A great place to live
Location
Ards and North Down is only 3km from Belfast City Airport and Port but is renowned as an area of outstanding natural beauty with 185km of coastline, the longest coastline in Northern Ireland.
Bangor is home to Ireland’s largest marina with space for 600 boats. AND is also home to Northern Ireland’s only Aquarium, Exploris.
There’s easy access to airports and ports. Dublin is only 2 hours by road and major UK and EU cities are only 1.5 hours away by air.
Lifestyle
AND is ideal if you love the great outdoors. The abundance of scenic locations within the Borough offer something for everyone including 14 golf courses (five of which are Northern Ireland Tourism accredited), flying schools, kayaking by moonlight (at the various sailing and water sports centres), as well as karting at Eddie Irvine’s Sports Facility or Kirkistown Motor Racing Circuit.
We have seven beaches, five of which are award winning.
Bangor has the only 50m Olympic size swimming pool in Northern Ireland and a range of other sporting facilities including tennis courts, bowling greens and the largest indoor archery range in Ireland.
AND is home to the largest cycling club in NI which caters for all ages and abilities.
Living
AND has long been recognised as a very desirable place to live with many superb amenities, schools (47 primary schools, 12 secondary schools, 4 grammar schools and 2 colleges), transport links and infrastructure.
A range of housing options is available from the exclusive to the affordable (£30k to £3m).
AND had ambitious plans to develop one of the largest stretch of greenways in Northern Ireland, creating a 53km loop.
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /4 Culture
AND offers cultural experiences to suit all ages and interests. You can experience life in earlier times at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum or walk in the footsteps of monks and saints when visiting Bangor Abbey and North Down Museum or explore the Ards Peninsula where the land has been shaped by Ulster Scots settlers.
Many varied events take place throughout the Borough, including the Ultimate Strongman competition, the Open House Festival and Sea Bangor.
22 visitor attractions including Pickie Fun Park and the National Trust’s Mount Stewart House and Gardens which was voted in the top 10 gardens in the world.
Creativity
As well as demonstrating a strong presence in the digital sector AND is renowned for its unique craft makers and suppliers offering ‘not on the high street’ products and experiences. Our art pods at Project 24 on Bangor Seafront allow visitors to watch the artists and crafters in action, as well to purchase unique gifts.
In each town and village throughout the Borough there are independent shops and boutiques as well as award winning local markets.
Culinary
In 2018, International Travel and Tourism Awards named Northern Ireland the ‘World’s Best Food Destination 2018’ and Ards and North Down has the largest number of award-winning restaurants outside of Belfast, as well as award winning takeaways, the Best Fish ‘n’ Chips Establishment and the Wholesale Bakery of the year 2018.
The newly licensed Echinville Distillery is paving the way in the drinks industry as the first distillery in Northern Ireland for over 125 years. Combined with the local daily catches from the Irish Sea, including Portavogie prawns, local lobsters or oysters or the world-famous Comber potatoes, one of the few products awarded PGI Status which places this product on the same level as Champagne!
Along with the local producers of exciting ranges of ice-cream, cheese and yoghurts. AND really is recognised as The Food Destination of Northern Ireland. www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /5 A great place to visit
ACCOMMODATION Pickie Funpark with over 1m visitors THE GREAT OUTDOORS 8 hotels, 138,000 rooms per annum since opening and over 235,000 per Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland’s with 63% occupancy (occupancy annum. first Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) based on 2016/7 hotels data). and Special Area of Conservation (EU Crawfordsburn Country Park, with Habitats Directive) and the largest 60 serviced accommodation 625,000 visitors per annum. inlet in the British Isles, covering providers and 120 unserviced. 150sq km. Exploris Aquarium, Northern Ireland’s VISITORS largest aquarium. Stunning scenery, 26 km of coastal 282,000 overnight trips with paths stretching from Belfast to 1,340,258 bed nights. Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Bangor and beyond! 168,000 visitors per annum. £46.5m expenditure on overnight HISTORY AND HERITAGE trips. EMPLOYMENT Monastic settlements dating back Second only to Belfast in tourism to Nendrum, circa 5th century and ATTRACTIONS sector related employment. (2015 Bangor Abbey (558) whose influence 22 visitor attractions with over 1.5m figures) resonated across Europe in the 6th visitors per annum up 10% on 2016 and 7th centuries. including: GOLF Home to Irelands oldest club ‘The Home of the Ulster-Scots, settled Mount Stewart House and Gardens Royal Belfast’ founded 1881 and Rory by Sir James Hamilton and Sir Hugh National Trust property - voted one McIlroy’s home course, Holywood. Montgomery in the early 1600’s. of the top ten gardens in the world Nine clubs, 11 courses including with over 217,000 visitors per annum. championship, links and parkland.
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk Figures from NISRA 2017 unless otherwise stated /6 Helen’s Bay Crawfordsburn
Bangor
Conlig Newtownards Belfast
N
Trails & Routes
Strangford Lough Canoe Trail
East Coast Canoe Trail
Comber Greenway Cycle Trail
Strangford Lough Cycle Trail
North Down Coastal Path
Lecale Way
St Patrick’s Trail (main route)
Trail leading to other associated St Patrick’s Trail sites
Mourne Coastal Route
Comber/Andrews Titanic Trail
Ulster Scots Driving Tours
Great Wars Trail
Film Locations
Access points to the Lough
2 miles 3.2 km
This is map is based upon Crown Copyright and is reproduced with the permission of Land & Property Services under delegated authority from the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. © Crown Copyright and database right 2017 CS&LA156 www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /7 Key facts
No.1 location in NI for full fibre broadband connectivity No. 7 in the UK.
George Best Belfast City Airport and Belfast Docks are less than 3.2kms from the Borough.
Belfast International Airport is 35kms away.
Travel times to major European capitals include: two hours to Dublin by road and 1/1.5 hours to London and Amsterdam by air.
590 sq kms area.
Longest coastline in Northern Ireland at 185 km.
AND has one of the highest educational achievement levels in Northern Ireland with 35% educated to higher levels (NVQ level 4 and above) against an average of 32.3%.
4,670 VAT/ PAYE registered businesses with 8 of NI’s top 30 manufacturers.
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /8 Key sectors
Creative and Digital
AND’s combination of talent and natural environment has created an environment where Creative Digital businesses are flourishing.
The Borough is home to a growing cluster of creative digital businesses including local start ups, award winning established and subsidiaries of multi-nationals.
Hospitality and Leisure
AND attracts 6% of all overnight trips to NI appealing to the Culturally Curious, Great Escapers and Time Together audiences. To achieve our ambitious growth targets of 10% of trips and £82m visitor spend by 2030 the Borough requires: • Up to 3 hotels (200+ rooms), at least one with spa facilities and one targeted at the group/tour market • Serviced accommodation (70+ rooms) including high quality licensed inns and historic luxury guest houses • Multi-accommodation developments including unique or quirky self-catering, glamping, water based and eco-friendly accommodation.
Agri-Food
Food and Drink from Ards and North Down is exported to over 80 countries. Our agri-food businesses’ success is down to our pure, lush countryside, sea and loughs. Food provenance is important to our farmers and producers who are dedicated to traceability and passionate about quality.
Business and Professional Services
Talent, low staff turnover, superior broadband and competitive operating costs combine to make Ards and North Down a successful location for Business & Professional Services businesses as well as access to a substantial pool of well educated people.
Advanced Manufacturing and Aerospace
Ards and North Down hosts international and locally owned world leaders operating in advanced plastics and engineering and providing the highest quality product to demanding customers worldwide
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /9 Ten reasons to invest
Ideal Skilled An ideal place to live and attract Skilled workforce. The most talent. educated in Northern Ireland .
Global Technology Global aerospace and production Concentration of technology facilities. and ecommerce businesses trading globally.
Local Number 1 Successful mix of multi-national, Number one location for locally-owned and start-up broadband connectivity in businesses. Northern Ireland, seventh in UK.
Reach Life Excellent global reach through Outstanding quality of life with two airports and a major seaport. 185 km of coastline and beautiful landscape.
Tourism Mix Strong tourism, culture and food Diverse mix of land/sites for destination offer. development ranging from greenfield to waterfront.
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /10 Development sites
Bangor Waterfront
Queen’s Parade
NIE Site
Whitespots
Castlebawn Crepe Weavers
Belfast / 15 mins
Dublin / 2hrs
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /11 Queen’s Parade
A unique opportunity to create 5.03 acres Northern Ireland’s premier public 2.03 hectares waterfront space at Queen’s Town Centre Development Parade, Bangor. Opportunity
Queen’s Parade Bangor
Location Description The subject lands are located on The land consists of approximately Queen’s Parade in Bangor town centre, 5.03 acres/2 hectares. The subject approximately 21 km/13 miles from lands are zoned as town centre in the Belfast city centre. Belfast International area plan. Airport is approximately 48 km/30 miles distance and George Best Belfast Neighbouring Occupiers City Airport approximately 16 km/10 - Barclays Bank miles. Belfast Port is also within close - Café Nero Contact: Simon Moon proximity at 23 km/14 miles. - TK Maxx - Santander +44 (0)28 9442 5600 The location is serviced with buses - The Red Berry Coffee House and [email protected] and trains with Bangor train station Eatery. approximately 0.6 km/0.4 miles from Queen’s Parade, with trains running directly to Great Victoria Street, Belfast.
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /12 QUEEN’S PARADE
Queen’sQueens Parade Parade 5.03Hectares: acres 4 Acres: 11 2.03 hectares
0.030.01 0 0.03 0.06 0.09 0.12 Kilometers
Source: Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AeroGRID, IGN, and the GIS User Community
Public space - external circulation
Hotel
Residential
Retail
Existing retail buildings
Leisure
Office
Vehicle parking
Service access use
Existing retail refurbished
Existing retail refurbished to office
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /13 QUEEN’S PARADE
Potential Use and Opportunities for Each Site A unique opportunity to create Northern Ireland’s premier public waterfront space at Queen’s Parade, Bangor. Bangor is ideally located to be the coastal day out of choice for a burgeoning capital city of Belfast and the proposed £50 million scheme (subject to planning) is made up of the following:
Marine gardens public realm combining external events space, cafés, sheltered promenade and kiosks, temporary beach, seafront lawns, children’s play area and water feature 70/80 bed hotel Destination/cinema building Approximately 125 residential units Approximately 3577 sqm/38,500 sqft commercial/retail/restaurant space Approximately 3112 sqm/33,500 sqft of office space Refurbishment of existing commercial properties (approx. 4877 sqm/52,500 sqft) 200 space car park Marketplace and courtyard squares
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /14 QUEEN’S PARADE
Sector Analysis for Each Use Commercial, Retail and Restaurants Tourism Ireland’s The retail sector has encountered a well Hotel reported raft of challenges during 2018 preliminary forecast Overall, 2018 was a positive year for with many commentators comparing hoteliers, however the new supply which this to a ‘perfect storm’. Although these is for approximately entered the Belfast market has had an have had a negative impact on market 2.23 million overseas impact upon the trading performance activity during the year, the sector during the second half of the year. remains stubbornly resilient and activity tourists to have visited levels remain at relatively positive Tourism Ireland’s preliminary forecast is levels. The out of town retail market the country in 2018, for approximately 2.23 million overseas remains buoyant with limited vacancy tourists to have visited the country in and demand primarily driven by the representing a rise of 2018, representing a rise of 3% over discounters and the grocery operators. 3% over 2017. 2017. Overseas revenue is also forecast to increase by 4% to £589m by the end Office of 2018. Limited large purpose office accommodation currently suitable 2019 is hoped to be another positive year in Bangor. for hoteliers throughout the country. The largest ever sporting event will take place in July this year when Royal Portrush hosts The Open. With tickets sold out for the competition and large crowds expected (predicted to attract around 190,000 spectators) tourism numbers will be expected to rise further during 2019.
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /15 Bangor Waterfront
The Bangor Waterfront project will 39.22 acres redevelop the seafront to return 15.87 hectares Bangor to its former status as a Town Centre Development thriving town and prime visitor Opportunity attraction in Northern Ireland. Bangor Town Centre
Location The location is well serviced by public Bangor is a town in County Down, transport in the form of buses, from Northern Ireland. It is a seaside Bangor to Belfast and Newtownards. resort on the southern side of Belfast Bangor Bus Station is approximately 1.3 Lough located approximately 21 km/0.8 miles from the site. Bangor also km/13 miles from Belfast City Centre. benefits from a train service with the Belfast International Airport is located train station being approximately 0.6 Contact: Susie McCullough approximately 48 km/30 miles from km/0.4 miles from the waterfront. Trains +44 (0)300 013 3333 Bangor with Belfast City Airport 18 run from Belfast city centre to Bangor km/11 miles away and Belfast Port every half hour. susie.mccullough@ approximately 24 km/15 miles. ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /16 BANGOR WATERFRONT
Bangor Waterfront Bangor Waterfront 39.22Hectares: acres 16 15.87Acres: hectares 39
0.20.1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 Kilometers
Source: Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AeroGRID, IGN, and the GIS User Community
The Bangor Description Neighbouring Occupiers The subject consists of infrastructure - Bangor town centre Waterfront including parts of the waterfront site. - Queen’s Parade car parking - Seacliff Road development will The lands are zoned for town centre, - Ballyholme Esplanade create a unique area of townscape character, local landscape policy area and area of open destination, space in the area plan. encouraging Bangor waterfront project objective is the redevelopment of the seafront more visitors and to return Bangor to its former status residents to enjoy as a thriving town and prime visitor attraction in Northern Ireland. Providing the coastline. economic, leisure, tourism and recreational benefit. This includes the regeneration of the coastline between Pickie Fun Park and Ballymacormick Point/Banks Lane (approximately 3.3 km/2.1 miles). The Bangor Waterfront development will create a unique destination, encouraging more visitors and residents to enjoy the coastline. www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /17 BANGOR WATERFRONT
The project includes the following: - Redevelopment of Pickie Park into national family visitor attraction - Redevelopment of Bangor marina – supporting vision of Queen’s Parade - Development of Ballyholme Yacht Club into Northern Ireland’s only centre of excellence - Development of unique new national visitor attraction - New greenways and coastal paths linking people, place and sea (part of Belfast to Donaghadee greenway) - Re-imagined Ballyholme beach - New artwork and public realm (across 3.4 km/2.1 miles)
Economic Benefits 837b additional jobs created £503m additional tourism spend across 20 years £209.70m GVA derived from business relocation to Bangor (across 20 years) £50m+ of private sector investment supporting regeneration of Queen’s Parade £487 million total GVA created (NPV across 20 years)
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /18 Whitespots Regional Park
The development will centre on 3 80.55 acres primary attractions: a unique mining 32.6 hectares heritage attraction, Ireland’s World Land War experience and a commercial Country Park zone with outdoor recreation, visitor Whitespots Bangor Road accommodation and event spaces. Newtownards
Location Description Located on the Bangor Road in- The subject comprises of approximately between Bangor and Newtownards, 80.55 acres/33 hectares which was approximately 13.4 miles/21.5 km from formerly a mining area (until 1910). This the M2 Motorway and approximately 14 area was established as Whitespots miles/23 km from Belfast city centre. Country Park in 1995 with development Belfast Port and Belfast City Airport are on going. within a 24 km/15 mile radius. Ards and North Down Borough Council Contact: Susie McCullough is developing a long-term vision for a Regional Park running from Belfast to: +44 (0)300 013 3333 Comber; Newtownards; Donaghadee susie.mccullough@ and back to Belfast. ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /19 WHITESPOTS REGIONAL PARK
Whitespots Regional Park 80.55 acres 32.6 hectares
Potential Use and Opportunities for Each Site Neighbouring Occupiers - Somme Museum The Regional Park will: - Whitespots Trail Park - Agricultural use Bring economic, health and educational, community cohesion - Clandeboye and other social benefits to the Borough (population 157,000), - Golf Course. the Greater Belfast area (population 340,000) and to Northern Ireland as a whole. Preserve and create access to a rich natural industrial and cultural heritage for the local community and visitors. Create a ‘proposition of scale’ linking many existing assets and successful attractions within the Borough with new ones to be developed. The nucleus of the proposed Regional park is the development of a new multi-use recreational facility with major visitor attractions in the lands at Whitespots Country Park, Newtownards.
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /20 WHITESPOTS REGIONAL PARK
This new visitor experience will bring the The development will centre on 3 primary attractions: soldiers’ ultimate sacrifice to life using new - A unique Mining Heritage attraction. technology and historical artefacts. Set on the site of Ireland’s largest ore mining complex. This new attraction provides visitors with an opportunity to experience life as a miner. Economic Benefits - Ireland’s World War Experience. This 737 jobs created new visitor experience will bring the Additional tourism spend of £1.2 billion across 20 years soldiers’ ultimate sacrifice to life using new technology and historical £800 million total GVA created (NPV across 20 years) artefacts.
- Commercial Zone with outdoor recreation, visitor accommodation and event spaces.
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /21 NIE Site
Throughout Northern Ireland 7.70 acres there is a shortage of space for 3.1 hectares small businesses; additional Building 1,607 sqm Enterprise Parks are required for 17,300 sqft incubation space to support and Former NIE lands at grow new businesses. Balloo Road, Bangor
Site Area by road. Belfast Port is also within Approximately 7.70 acres/3.1 hectares proximity at approximately 23 km/14 and building 1,607 sqm/17,300 sqft. miles.
Location Balloo is North Down’s premier The subject lands are located on the industrial and commercial location and Balloo Road, approximately 3.2 km/2 home to a number of major businesses. Contact: Susie McCullough miles from Bangor town centre. The subject is approximately 21 km/13 Public transport is provided in the form +44 (0)300 013 3333 miles from Belfast city centre. Belfast of buses, with bus stops along the susie.mccullough@ International Airport is approximately Balloo Road. There is also a service from ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk 48 kms/30 miles and Belfast City Balloo Road to Belfast Laganside Bus Airport approximately 16 km/10 miles Centre.
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /22 NIE SITE
Former NIE Site at Balloo 7.70 acres 3.1 hectares
Description Potential Use and Opportunities for Each Site The subject consists of 7.7 acres/ The subject lands would be suitable for industrial or as 3.1 hectares with approximately 1,607 sqm/17,300 sqft building. an office development. In particular this location would be suitable for an innovation/light industrial or business The subject lands are zoned units to support economic regeneration in the Borough as existing employment by the area plan. through an Enterprise Park.
Neighbouring occupiers - JK Motorcycle Service and Sector Analysis for Each Use Repairs - Balloo House Recycling Centre Industrial Currently a shortage of good quality industrial property ready to occupy across Northern Ireland. Industrial rentals are increasing due to lack of supply increased demand.
Office Limited purpose build office accommodation currently suitable in Bangor. Throughout Northern Ireland there is a shortage of space for small businesses, additional Enterprise Parks are required for incubation space to support and grow new businesses.
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /23 Castlebawn
Castlebawn offers a wide range 15.6 acres of commercial opportunities on a 6.31 hectares high-profile site for uses such as: Development retail, showroom, trade counter, Lands office, hotel, care home and Adjacent Castlebawn Retail Park leisure facilities. Newtownards
Location Description Located in a highly prominent location The development lands are highly visible with dual frontage onto both Comber with significant frontage to the A20 Road and A20 (Castlebawn Road) at Newtownards by-pass. The greenfield the Comber Road Roundabout. Located site is level and benefits from planning adjacent Castlebawn Retail Park, consent for a proposed retail park. this strategic location on the edge of Contact: Diana Thompson Newtownards town centre provides Neighbouring Occupiers an approx. 20 minute drive time to The surrounding area comprises of +44 (0)28 9042 1011 Belfast City Airport and the city centre is residential, commercial, retail and [email protected] accessible within 30 minutes. The area leisure uses with Castlebawn retail is well served by public transport routes park, Ards Shopping Centre and Scrabo with a regular bus service to and from Business Park within close proximity. Belfast city centre.
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /24 CASTLEBAWN
Potential Use and Opportunities for Each Site The site is located within the development limit of Newtownards under the Ards and Down Area Plan 2015. The site benefits from planning consent for approximately 215,000 sqft/19,974 sqm of A1 accommodation and associated car parking. Castlebawn offers a wide range of commercial opportunities on a high-profile site for uses such as retail, showroom, trade counter, office, hotel, care home and leisure facilities.
Highlights of the development include planning permission for:
31,800 sqm/342,000 sqft fo retailing 10,800 sqm/116,000 sqft business/office park 2,700 sqm/29,000 sqft of leisure units Petrol filling station and two car showrooms 7,400 sqm/80,000 sqft Tesco store with associated retail units 75-bed hotel
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /25 CASTLEBAWN
Castlebawn 15.6 acres 6.31 hectares
Sector Analysis for Each Use
Office Trade counter/warehouse this to a ‘perfect storm’. Although these Limited purpose build office developments are currently well have had a negative impact on market accommodation currently suitable in occupied with Vacancy levels remaining activity during the year, the sector Newtownards. Throughout Northern relatively low in multi-let business remains stubbornly resilient and activity Ireland there is a shortage of space for park which cater for the SME market, levels remain at relatively positive small businesses. due to the lack of new development, levels. The out of town retail market with many established parks at full remains buoyant with limited vacancy Retail occupancy. and demand primarily driven by the The retail planning consent on the discounters and the grocery operators. site and the proximity to Castlebawn The retail sector has encountered a well Shopping Centre makes this site an reported raft of challenges during 2018 optimal location for retail development. with many commentators comparing
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /26 Crepe Weavers
The subject lands have outline 25 acres planning permission for mixed use 10.1 hectares development to include residential, Land Site nursing home, hotel, petrol filling Area station, neighbourhood centre, Comber Road leisure and light industrial park use. Newtownards
Location Description The Crepe Weavers site is located at The subject consists of 25 acres/10.1 the top of Strangford Lough on the hectares of a former industrial site Comber Road approximately 1.2 km from currently as hardstanding with all Newtownards town centre and 8 km/5 industrial buildings demolished. miles from Bangor. The subject benefits from ease of access to Belfast City Airport Outline planning permission was approximately 14.5 km/9 miles and Belfast granted on 15 June 2015, for a City Airport approximately 13 km/8 miles. mixed-use development to include Belfast Port being 23 km/14 mile from the residential, nursing home, hotel, petrol Contact: Simon Brien lands. filing station, neighbourhood centre, +44 (0)28 9066 8888 leisure, business and light industrial [email protected] Newtownards is serviced in the form of park uses. Reference for planning; buses with Newtownards bus station being (LA06/2015/0283/O). The subject lands approximately 1 mile from the subject are zoned as existing industry in the Contact: Stuart Draffin with buses running to Belfast city centre area plan. +44 (0)28 9026 9215 and Bangor. The area is well serviced with [email protected] amenities including Ards Shopping Centre. www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /27 CREPE WEAVERS
Crepe Weavers 25 acres 10.1 hectares
Neighbouring Occupiers Potential Use and Opportunities for Each Site The immediate vicinity comprises a mix of residential, commercial and The subject lands have outline planning permission for leisure uses. mixed use development to include residential, nursing - Newtownards Airport (Ulster Flying Club) home, hotel, petrol filling station, neighbourhood centre, - Creative Bathrooms leisure and light industrial park use. - West Winds Primary and Nursery School - Tesco Extra - Matalan - Home Bargains.
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /28 CREPE WEAVERS
Sector Analysis for Each Use
Hotel tickets sold out for the competition Residential Overall, 2018 was a positive year for and large crowds expected (predicted According to the Northern Ireland hoteliers, however the new supply to attract around 190,000 spectators) Quarterly House Price Index the which entered the Belfast market tourism numbers will be expected to quarterly growth for Q4 was more impacted the trading performance rise further during 2019. subdued than in Q1 and Q2 of 2018, this during the second half of the year. r reflects a housing market that is both Commercial/Retail/Restaurants resilient and sustainable, with an overall Tourism Ireland’s preliminary forecast is The retail sector has encountered a well average house price increase of 4.9% for approximately 2.23 million overseas reported raft of challenges during 2018 compared to the same period in 2017. tourists to have visited the country in with many commentators comparing 2018, representing a rise of 3% over this to a ‘perfect storm’. Although these 2017. Overseas revenue is also forecast have had a negative impact on market to increase by 4% to £589m by the end activity during the year, the sector of 2018. remains stubbornly resilient and activity levels remain at relatively positive 2019 is hoped to be another positive levels. The out of town retail market year for hoteliers throughout the remains buoyant with limited vacancy country. The largest ever sporting event and demand primarily driven by the will take place in July this year when discounters and the grocery operators. Royal Portrush hosts The Open. With
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /29 Tourism Accommodation
Northern Ireland Tourism is now a £1 billion Industry and has grown significantly over the last few years. Overnight trips have increased by 22% with an additional c. 500,000 hotel room nights sold in 2017 compared to 2011.
Average room occupancy is sitting at over 70% with the profitability of the sector increasing significantly. Tourism Northern Ireland has set targets to double the value of tourism to the local economy by 2030 to £2 billion, creating 25,000 new jobs.
Contact: Alex Irvine +44 (0)300 013 3333 alex.irvine@ ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /30 Ards and North Down Key Stats: 5 mins drive to George Best Belfast City Airport Longest coastline in Ireland at 185 km Strangford Lough, a special area of conservation, home to 2,000 marine species Mount Stewart ranked in the world’s best 10 gardens Home to St. Columbanus who spread Christianity throughout Europe World class food production; Comber potatoes (European protected status) and two award winning distilleries
Tourism Strategy The Opportunity - Currently have 5% of the Northern Ireland To achieve this ambitious growth the Borough requires: accommodation stock (920 rooms) - Up to 3 hotels (200+ rooms), at least one with spa - Generating in the region of 115,000 overnight stays facilities and one targeted at the group/tour market per year - Serviced accommodation (70+ rooms) including high - Aim to double the volume of overnight stays in quality licensed inn’s, historic luxury guest houses commercial accommodation to 232,000 by 2030 - Multi-accommodation developments including unique or quirky self-catering, glamping, water based and eco- Our Intentions friendly accommodation. To support this growth in tourism we will: - Redevelop Bangor waterfront, creating a must-see Support Provided seaside destination (£63m capital investment) - Single point of contact within Council to assist you - Whitespots Country Park, developing a new multi- - Non-refundable grant assistance may be available use recreational facility with major visitor attractions - Support within planning guidance and application (£40m) - Business support programmes - Strangford Lough Loop, create a touring route that - Borough marketing campaigns in key markets offers a haven of unique towns, villages and harbours steeped in history just waiting to be discovered - Mount Stewart, support the National Trust to further develop the domain providing unique new experiences linked to both the lough and the land - Develop Northern Ireland’s only international sailing and water sports centre of excellence
www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk /31