ARDS AND NORTH BOROUGH COUNCIL

4 January 2018

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, on Thursday 11 January 2018 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. Regeneration and Development Budgetary Control Report (Report attached)

4. Lower Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN/LoRA) to Support Collaborative Internet of Things (IoT) Pilot Projects (Report attached)

5. UNESCO Global Geopark Status (Report attached)

6. DAERA Rural Tourism Scheme – Ballycopeland Windmill (Report attached)

7. Tourism NI Request Support for National Industry Body (Report attached)

8. Review and Updating of Village Plans – NIHE Grant Received (Report attached)

ITEMS 9 - 10 ***IN CONFIDENCE***

9. Review of Project 24 (Report attached)

10. Queen’s Parade and Marine Gardens Update (Report attached)

11. Any Other Notified Business Circulated for information:

(a) Correspondence from Home Secretary dated 21 December 2017 for information (copy attached)

MEMBERSHIP OF REGENERATION AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

Alderman Irvine Councillor Ferguson Alderman McDowell Councillor Leslie Alderman M Smith Councillor Menagh Councillor Adair Councillor Smart Councillor Allen Councillor T Smith Councillor Armstrong-Cotter Councillor Walker Councillor Cooper Councillor Wilson Councillor Cummings (Chairman) Councillor Woods (Vice-Chairman) Councillor Gilmour

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ITEM 3

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Regeneration & Development

Date of Meeting 11 January 2018

Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning

Responsible Head of Head of Finance Service

Date of Report 28 December 2017

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 – November 2017

Attachments

This Regeneration and Development Budgetary Control Report covers the 8-month period 1 April to 30 November 2017 and is set out on page 3. The net cost of the services is showing an under spend of £378,797 (13.8%).

Although the Directorate is showing a significant underspend it is important that this is maintained for the rest of this financial year. The Council’s current projected 2017/18 surplus (approx. £988k) is based on the forecast outturns for all Directorates. The importance of having this surplus was outlined at the Special Corporate Services Committee in December as a significant part of it has been allocated to future years to help reduce future rates increases (additional MRP holiday). If the Council’s 2017/18 surplus is significantly lower it will have to reduce the amount set aside for future years which will have an adverse effect on rates increases for those years.

Explanation of Variance

In addition, a Budgetary Control Report by Income and Expenditure for Regeneration and Development is, also, shown on page 3 which analyses the overall favourable variance (£378,797) by expenditure (£327,190 favourable) and income (£51,608 favourable).

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Regeneration & Development

Expenditure - £327.2k (10.4%) better than budget to date. This favourable variance is mainly made up of the following: - 1. RDP HQ - £29.7k favourable as a result of a vacant post (£13.2k) and consultancy (£14k). The 2017/18 budget included consultancy for a feasibility study for Exploris Phase 2. This will not be undertaken this year and is now budgeted for 2018/19. 2. Regeneration - £104.2k favourable. This favourable variance is explained by- a. Payroll £79.4k favourable due to vacancies in Urban Development (£18.4k), Rural Development (£20.7k) and Craft Development (£28.5k). The Rural Development post was filled in late November. b. Public Realm revenue costs are currently £10.4k under budget. c. Rural Development Programme running costs are £6.3k under budget to date – see 5b below. 3. Economic Development - £31.7k favourable. This favourable variance is explained by: - a. Payroll £31.0k favourable. There are 2 vacant posts within Economic Development. One is currently being recruited with the other expected to be filled in early 2018. 4. Tourism - £161.6k favourable. This favourable variance is explained by: - a. Payroll £132.5k favourable. A number of vacant posts in Events and Tourism Development are in the process of being filled. b. Events such as the Earlies Food Festival (£5.1k), Summer Entertainment (£6.2k), Easter (£8.8k), Seapark Fireworks Display (£9.2k) and Seafood Festival (£5.4k) are currently £34.7k under budget. c. Lights Up is currently £13.2k over budget due to additional Health & Safety requirements which weren’t budgeted for.

Income - £51.6k (13.1%) better than budget to date. This favourable variance is mainly made up of the following: - 5. Regeneration - £35.4k favourable. This is mainly due to: - a. Revitalisation grants are £44.7k favourable as these are in respect of the 2016/17 year and, as the programme ended in 2016/17, there is no income budget for this year. b. Rural Programme grant is £12.2k worse than budget to date but this is offset a similar reduction in running costs – see 2c above. 6. Tourism - £10.0k favourable. a. Income from a range of Council events is currently £12.3k better than budget.

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BUDGETARY CONTROL REPORT By Directorate and Service

Period 8 - November 2017

Note Year to Date Year to Date Variance Annual Variance Actual Budget Budget £ £ £ £ %

Regen & Development

300 Regen, Dev & Planning HQ 79,808 109,500 (29,692) 213,300 27.1 310 Regeneration 424,006 563,700 (139,694) 1,023,200 24.8 320 Economic Development 704,881 742,700 (37,819) 1,145,600 5.1 340 Tourism 1,154,008 1,325,600 (171,592) 1,786,700 12.9

Totals 2,362,703 2,741,500 (378,797) 4,168,800 13.8

BUDGETARY CONTROL REPORT By Income and Expenditure

Period 8 - November 2017

Expenditure Income Note Actual Budget Variance Actual Budget Variance £ £ £

Regen & Development

300 Regen, Dev & Planning HQ 79,808 109,500 (29,692) - - - 310 Regeneration 581,158 685,400 (104,242) (157,152) (121,700) (35,452) 320 Economic Development 925,435 957,100 (31,665) (220,554) (214,400) (6,154) 340 Tourism 1,220,410 1,382,000 (161,590) (66,402) (56,400) (10,002)

Totals 2,806,810 3,134,000 (327,190) (444,108) (392,500) (51,608)

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the Committee notes this report.

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ITEM 4

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Regeneration and Development

Date of Meeting 11 January 2018

Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning

Responsible Head of Head of Economic Development Service

Date of Report 13 December 2017

File Reference ED46

Legislation N/A

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN/LoRA) to support collaborative Internet of Things (IoT) pilot projects

Attachments

Background

Broadband connectivity and poor infrastructure have been identified as issues throughout the development of the Integrated Regeneration, Tourism and Development Strategy. Running alongside and connected at key gateways to high speed internet, Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) will be an enabler of monitoring and data gathering for many businesses in the near future. An experimental network in London has led to the UK government planning further expansion. In June 2017, Digital Catapult was awarded funding from Innovate UK for its bid to expand the Things Connected network to cover up to five additional large-scale regional network deployments. A consortium led by Ulster University, Invest NI, Tourism NI and Local Councils across has been successful in bidding to be one of the funded networks. It is intended for the prototyping of new products and services that can benefit from the unique features of LPWAN.

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What is The Digital Catapult?

The Digital Catapult is a UK government funded initiative which focuses on the Digital sector and funds initiatives to build capability and capacity to assist in growing this business sector.

What is the Purpose of the Fund?

The fund seeks to accelerate the demand and innovation of industrial Internet of Things (IoT) with the adoption of the low power wide area networks (LPWAN/LoRA) which are emerging as potentially very powerful for business growth. This fund will lower the barrier to access for this new technology and create opportunities for innovative businesses to develop. The fund will focus on setting up a regional network, providing access to the network, stimulating interest in the business opportunities a network brings, and educating SME’s on the potential of IoT to their businesses and providing solutions to challenges that Councils along with businesses identify as well as benefitting from the data that the devices can generate.

What is LPWAN?

At its simplest level, the technology provides a means of inexpensive secure long distance communication between a sensor which is based in the community and the owner of the sensor. The communication requires very little power so a sensor may have a battery attached which is sufficient for the life of a device. The sensor could be measuring temperature, humidity, location, movement, air quality, or many other pieces of data. The data can be passed back to a server via the internet and presented to a decision maker with other similar pieces of data. Businesses are exploring new solutions with this inexpensive data collection to monitor tourism, improve agriculture, streamline health service delivery, improve service delivery, and drive up operational efficiency. This is the Internet of Things, but many of the business applications are still to be discovered.

It has already started to be used in SMART Cities and, in fact, a project is already operational in the marina at Bangor, with a system designed to monitor the status of Lifebuoy devices and throw ropes without staff having to physically visit the location.

Local Involvement:

In Ards and North Down we would plan to promote the potential opportunity for appropriate local businesses to become involved in the challenge that, with the help of other partners: University of Ulster, Invest NI, SMEs, will help accelerate growth and the time to market and commercialise the ideas.

At a Northern Ireland level, a number of challenge areas have been identified as having the potential to accelerate development and growth of SME’s. An ecosystem for Industry could be developed from the following areas with the support of Invest NI and relevant industry clusters:

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 Health  Manufacturing  Creative Technologies  Tourism  Transportation  Agriculture/Food Manufacture

To launch scalable trials and explorations to address challenges, each local Council commit to fund and coordinate challenge funds at £10,000 per Council with City Council giving £30,000. Tourism NI will launch a competition challenge fund of £35,000. This fund will explore how technology can be used to explore tourist movement, creative technologies and increased tourist spend.

Technology and Support from Ulster University:

50 gateways, using LoRaWAN technology, will be strategically placed through collaboration between Ulster University and the Council areas to offer maximum possible coverage (Councils are being asked to feed back in suitable Gateway sites). The aim would be to cover most of Northern Ireland as the gateway devices have transmission ranges of 15-20km in a rural setting and 3-5km in an urban setting.

Ulster University will provide technical support for the network; this will take the form of UU staff who will address all issues with connectivity, engage with the contractor to repair hardware faults as they occur, address any arising issues with linkage to the back end portal, and assist SMEs in getting connected.

UU will provide training sessions and organise/support regular meet-ups to engage and educate users/potential users. They will also provide development tutorials, example technical solutions, a technical user forum, and an array of training guides. UU will make provisions on a number of fronts to ensure users are well supported in a timely manner.

The Faculty of Computing and Engineering at UU have extensive expertise in the IoT space and in particular have been part of the €2M Pervasive Nation All-Ireland LoRaWAN project (Ireland’s Internet of Things testbed). Furthermore they have deployed multiple LoRa and Sigfox base stations, as well as creating a range of innovative IoT devices in conjunction with a number of SMEs.

Additionally Ulster University have recently developed substantial capability in the use of big data and data mining to develop intelligent connected systems that are data-driven and to release previously untapped potential in collected data. Councils have an opportunity to benefit from the potential data sets and solutions to issues/challenges that can be developed as well as the potential for SMEs to investigate the potential monetisation of generated data.

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FINANCIAL/BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS

The bid to Digital Catapult to establish a LPWAN network across Northern Ireland, interlinked to the nationwide “Things Connected Network” has been successful, with a funding allocation of approx. £100,000. Each of the Councils is being asked to contribute £10,000, as match funding, which can be used to help deliver part of the challenge fund.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that Ards and North Down Borough Council participates in this project and agrees to contribute £10,000.00 in the 2018-19 financial year, to be met from Economic Development budgets.

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ITEM 5

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Regeneration and Development

Date of Meeting 11 January 2018

Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning

Responsible Head of Temporary Head of Tourism Service

Date of Report 15 December 2017

File Reference TO/TD23

Legislation

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject UNESCO Global Geopark status - Lough Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Attachments Appendix 1 - UNESCO Global Geoparks information Appendix 2 - Geological Hertiage within AONBs Appendix 3 and 4 - Geodiversity Audits

Background

In Autumn 2017, Officers from and (NMDDC) contacted this Council regarding the potential to partner on a Geopark Application. In the past few years NMDDC has pursued a National Park status for the Mournes area but this has not progressed. In more recent times NMDDC has been researching the potential of UNESCO Global Geopark status with the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland (GSNI). It had submitted an application to UNESCO to become of UNESCO Global Geopark in November 2015 (incorporating only the Mournes and Ring of Gullion AONBs). However, the application was somewhat premature and it was withdrawn in June 2016. On this occasion, it is proposed that the boundary for the UNESCO Global Geopark take in not only the Mourne and Ring of Gullion AONBs, but also takes in the Strangford and AONB incorporating part of the Ards and North Down Borough Council area.

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The purpose of this report is to outline the communications and research to date on the potential benefits of ANDBC considering a joint application with NMDDC, for UNESCO Global Geopark status, which incorporates the geography of the AONB of within Ards and North Down Borough Council.

UNESCO Global Geoparks

Information on UNESCO Global Geoparks can be found in Appendix I. In brief a UNESCO Global Geopark is a single unified geographical area where sites and landscapes of international geological significance are managed holistically for sustainable tourism, protection and education.

A UNESCO Global Geopark uses its geological heritage, in connection with all other aspects of the area’s natural and cultural heritage, to enhance awareness of key issues facing society, such as using Earth’s resources sustainably, mitigating the effects of climate change and reducing the impact of geological hazards.

Importantly, a UNESCO Global Geopark is not a statutory designation and will not have a negative impact on planning and development but instead is complementary.

Benefits of UNESCO Global Geoparks

One of the most obvious benefits of a UNESCO Global Geopark is the economic revenue that it generates. In a recent report that was compiled by the UK National Commission for UNESCO it was realised that out of all the UNESCO designations in the UK, UNESCO Global Geoparks bring the highest financial benefit with an average of £2.9 million per UNESCO Global Geopark (see table below).

UNESCO Estimated Number Estimated Designation financial benefit financial benefit per year per designation World Heritage £61.1 million 28 £2.2 million Site UNESCO Global £18.8 million 6.5 £2.9 million Geopark Biosphere £2.9 million 16 £0.18 million Reserve

Source: UK National Commission for UNESCO

In addition, a number of UNESCO Global Geoparks have also carried out individual economic assessments. The Arouca UNESCO Global Geopark in Portugal completed an assessment in 2016 indicating that the tourism income generated by the Geopark was approximately €15.1 million per year. A similar, but not as comprehensive assessment was completed in 2014 for the Marble Arch Caves UNESCO Global Geopark, that indicated that the Geopark generated approximately £15.2 million per year for the local economy in Co. Fermanagh and Co. Cavan.

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The benefits of UNESCO Global Geoparks are not just economic. They have a significant role to play in empowering local communities and giving them the opportunities to develop cohesive partnerships with the common goal of promoting the area’s significant geological and other heritage. Through these activities issues such as social inclusion and health and well-being can be addressed through recreational opportunities, social enterprise and educational programmes.

Proposal for Mourne-Gullion-Strangford area

In November 2016, the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland (GSNI) proposed a ‘roadmap’ to achieve UNESCO Global Geopark status and presented this to NMDDC. The original plan was to build upon the success of the Mourne Cooley Gullion Geotourism Project and include the two AONB’s of Mourne and the Ring of Gullion. Given the amount of work already done, the proposed date for the submission of an application to UNESCO was November 2019.

A great deal of consideration was given to the boundary of the proposed UNESCO Global Geopark and it was decided to use the boundaries of the existing AONBs. AONBs give formal recognition to distinct landscapes of high scenic value, and due to their designation, there is already provision for the conservation and enhancement of the area’s natural beauty and to increase the awareness and public enjoyment of the area. It also provides for the management of the landscape to take all of this into consideration through AONB management plans. Managing an area holistically for protection, education and sustainable tourism is a requirement of all UNESCO Global Geoparks so by having this arrangement in place allows for an effective and cohesive management structure.

As indicated NMDDC has now proposed to include the entire Strangford and Lecale AONB within the proposed UNESCO Global Geopark, which would take in areas not only within the NMDDC area but also within the Ards and North Down Borough Council (ANDBC) area. However, it should be noted when planning the next steps, the level of geotourism development in the Strangford and Lecale AONB is limited when compared to the amount of detailed work and preparation already undertaken in the other two AONBs, as part of the previous geotourism submission in 2015.

It should be noted at this stage that although the proposal for the boundary is the three AONBs there is potential in future to extend this once UNESCO Global Geopark status is already in place. The boundary can be extended by no more than 10% if there is a strong rationale for doing so, such as internationally important geological heritage.

It should also be noted that if this boundary is accepted then there will be no further major expansions (no more than 10%) as this will be at the upper limit of the acceptable size for a UNESCO Global Geopark.

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Proposed area for the Mourne-Gullion-Strangford UNESCO Global Geopark

Consideration will need to be given to the name of the proposed UNESCO Global Geopark and should ideally take into account the geological heritage of the entire area to avoid any contentious issues surrounding the use of geographical place names. See Appendix 2 for the Geological Heritage within the AONBs.

Geology diversity within Strangford Lough and Lecale and ANDBC

The four absolute essentials of every UNESCO Global Geopark are geological heritage of international value, management, visibility and networking. To establish whether the AONB of Strangford Lough and Lecale would meet the requirements for geology status within an application, NMDDC in partnership with ANDBC commissioned a geology diversity audit of the area. GSNI was appointed to complete the audit. The results of the AONB audit are contained within Appendix 3 (inclusive of NMDDC and ANDBC). Further to this, ANDBC requested that all sites within the boundary of the Council area be included for completeness purposes (Appendix 4).

The results demonstrate that there are a total of 23 sites within the entire ANDBC area, which are designated as having the level of geological significance required to be a primary site (only a site which primary interest is geology have been included in this audit, other heritage sites including archaeology, history, folklore and biodiversity will be assessed once the boundary of the proposed UNESCO Global Geopark has been confirmed). Of these 23 sites, 6 are denoted as green sites i.e. those that with minimal development meet standards required for application. 13 are ambers site, which require substantial development plus a partnership agreement with the owner

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of the site and 4 are red, not suitable for inclusion due to extensive development requirements and accessibility.

In totality however, there are only 3 green sites, 5 amber sites and 2 red sites within the Strangford Lough and Lecale AONB, which is the proposed Global Geopark boundary within the ANDBC area.

Although there are a number of excellent geological sites contained within the ANDBC area, due to the criteria required GSNI recommends that the boundaries of the existing AONBs, Mourne, Ring of Gullion and Strangford & Lecale be used.

AONBs give formal recognition to distinct landscapes of high scenic value and due to their designation, there is already provision for the conservation and enhancement of the area’s natural beauty and to increase the awareness and public enjoyment of the area. It also provides for the management of the landscape to take all of this into consideration through AONB management plans. Managing an area holistically for protection, education and sustainable tourism is a requirement of all UNESCO Global Geoparks, so by having this arrangement in place allows for an effective and cohesive management structure that was lacking in the original application in November 2015 submitted by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council.

Should ANDBC wish to include any sites outside of the existing Strangford and Lecale AONB, this should be identified as part of the Geopark Development Plan. This will recognise the need to include these sites but not until after UNESCO Global Geopark status is achieved and to be done as part of a formal extension request of less than 10% of the UNESCO Global Geopark boundary to UNESCO at a later date. Sites must also fall within a new agreed continuous boundary.

UNESCO Global Geopark Development

The planned submission deadline is 30 November 2019, however all aspiring UNESCO Global Geoparks should be operating as a de facto Geopark for at least one year prior to submission. To following key milestones are required to meet this deadline.

Timeline Key milestone September 2017 Establishment of Geopark Steering Group November 2017 Geopark area site audit and action plan January 2018 to Develop and Implement Communications Strategy November 2019 January 2018 Develop and Delivery of Education Programme and Public onwards Events Plan December 2017 to Develop and Implement Marketing Strategy November 2019 February 2018 Decision on Geopark boundary April 2018 Compile Geopark Development Plan November 2018 Define Geopark management structure and potential budget

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November 2018 Develop Geopark sites as per action plan November 2019 Complete and submit application dossier to UNESCO

The decision-making and planning process in the development of a UNESCO Global Geopark and preparation for application submission must be as inclusive and informed as possible. Given that the development and preparation requires input from a number of agencies and stakeholders it is dependent upon a partnership approach, which in turn necessitates all interested parties coming together to agree on future development through the Geopark Steering Group.

The members of the Geopark Steering Group are as follows: NMDDC (lead), ANDBC, GSNI, Mourne Heritage Trust, Ring of Gullion AONB, Strangford and Lecale AONB, DAERA (Forest Service and NIEA), DfC (Historic Environment Division), NI Water, National Trust, Loughs Agency. At this stage, the commitment from each of the partners to deliver any site enhancements, as part of this application has yet to be confirmed.

Potential Costs

In order to bring the entire area up to UNESCO Global Geopark standard, a significant amount of work will be required. The key elements required are listed below, most of which are one-off costs. Please note that these costs are estimated only and do not include marketing.

Mourne / Gullion Strangford & Lecale Site Development £5,000 £24,000 (upgrading and branding (interpretation at 8 sites existing sites) identified through audit) Education and Events £10,000 £5,000 Communication £10,000

Application Dossier £2,000 UNESCO Assessment £8,000 GSNI Staff Time £45,000 over a 3 year period

Running Costs

UNESCO Global Geopark status is ongoing, it is not something that is achieved and then remains static. UNESCO Global Geoparks must continue to deliver the key components required by UNESCO and to fulfil their role to holistically manage an area for protection, education and sustainable tourism. To ensure this happens, each UNESCO Global Geopark is reassessed every four years. The estimated annual running costs for a UNESCO Global Geopark are listed below.

Item Estimated Cost Management of the entire Geopark area £30,000 Education & Events £2,500 Networking £5,000

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Site Maintenance £15,000 Total £52,500

These costs do not include any budget/costs of currently running the three AONBs. At this stage, no discussion has taken place regarding Council financial contributions for annual running costs, but these would be agreed on a pro rata basis per Council.

Conclusion

At this stage NMDDC together with GSNI have made significant progress in the various steps required to achieve UNESCO Global Geopark status for their region. It is proposed to not only include the Mourne and Ring of Gullion AONBs, both within the NMDDC area, but also to include the Strangford and Lecale AONB. This would require a partnership with ANDBC. In order to progress this further a final decision needs to be made on the proposed UNESCO Global Geopark boundary.

The following must be taken into consideration regarding ANDBC’s decision, as to whether to agree to the AONB of Strangford Lough and Lecale being included within an extended boundary for an UNESCO Global Geopark status application.

1. Managing an area holistically for protection, education and sustainable tourism is a requirement of all UNESCO Global Geoparks. The Council must be prepared to make the commitment across environment, leisure, biodiversity, sustainability and tourism to ensure these management aspects would be met, via a suitable management structure. 2. Indicative costs to deliver the initial application, are estimated at £23,000. The ongoing annual costs are as per pro rata estimation at £19,000. It should be noted that further funds would be required should the Council choose to include sites within the Development Plan. 3. The Management Structure of the local AONB is currently under Review. At present the Strangford Lough and Lecale Partnership manages this aspect of behalf of the Council and the Review of this Partnership is timetabled for March 2018. Currently, the cost attributed to this partnership is £24,500. 4. The most internationally important geological site within the Ards and North Down Borough Council area has been confirmed within the Geodiversity Audit by the GSNI as Whitespots Country Park. This is outside the proposed Global Geopark boundary, however if sufficient development is progressed at this site, there is potential for it to be added later as an additional part of a 10% park extension. This will require an additional continuous boundary being agreed by all relevant parties. Further sites within any other part of the Borough would also need to form an additional continuous boundary, which would require agreement and meet the 10% threshold. 5. NMDDC has led on the development of the Geopark Steering Group and there have been limited or no discussion to date, with the relevant partners in the ANDBC area as to their commitment to support the concept and application of the Geopark across the three AONBs e.g. National Trust or Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, who would be key sites within the area. 6. The economic return demonstrated with the designation of UNESCO Global Park status has been presented. A number of these sites have significant scale ‘hook sites’. The economic return to the local economy for the Marble

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Arch Geopark is quoted as significant at £15.2 million. A site visit for the Geopark Working Group for a learning experience is timetabled for late January 2018. 7. The ethos and rationale for application for a UNESCO Global Geopark fits with the Community Plan Outcome 5 ‘All people in Ards and North Down feel pride from having access to a well-managed sustainable environment’ and meets an emerging priority of the Integrated Strategy for Tourism, Regeneration and Development ‘Nurture our assets’. 8. Should the Council not wish to pursue inclusion of the Strangford Lough and Lecale AONB within this proposed application, it has been established that a separate UNESCO Global Geopark application at a later date, including only the Whitespots Country Park would not be possible. GSNI has advised that a Global Geopark cannot be a single Site. UGGps are unified areas that are managed for protection, education and sustainable development and as such contain communities, schools and businesses.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the Council approves

1. The inclusion of Strangford Lough and Lecale AONB in partnership with Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, within an application to UNESCO Global Geopark status in November 2019, subject to: a. written confirmation that all partners on the Geopark Steering Group are committed to the development requirements, inclusive of budget, appropriate to sites within the Geopark boundary. b. Confirmation that the partners managing the key sites within ANDBC will enter an MOU to be included within the Geopark, bringing their sites up to ‘green’ status. c. Agreed understanding by the Geopark Steering Group that the Geopark boundary will be extended in the future to include Whitespots. d. Agreed confirmation of the management structures that will be put in place to manage the Geopark and any future boundary extension. 2. The addition of up to £23,000 across financial years 18/19 and 19/20, within the Tourism budgets to complete the pre-application work.

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Appendix 1

UNESCO Global Geopark Information

By raising the awareness of the importance of the area’s geological heritage in history and society today, UNESCO Global Geoparks give local people a sense of pride in their region and strengthen their identification with the area. The creation of innovative local enterprises, new jobs and high quality training courses is stimulated as new sources of revenue are generated through geotourism, while the geological resources of the area are protected.

UNESCO Global Geoparks showcase the beauty and diversity of planet Earth in 127 extraordinary places spread out in 35 countries across the world. All UNESCO Global Geoparks combine geology with the empowerment of local communities and create opportunities for sustainable tourism. Together, they make up the Global Geoparks Network that works together to share experiences and knowledge to ensure that good practice in this field is disseminated globally.

For more information on UNESCO Global Geoparks then click here

UK National Commission to UNESCO https://www.unesco.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/UK- National-Commission-for-UNESCO_Wider-Value-of-UNESCO-to-the-UK_UK-Organisations_January- 2016.pdf

Geological Survey of Ireland - review of geoscience sector https://www.gsi.ie/documents/Indecon_Economic_Review_of_Irish_Geoscience_Sec tor_Nov2017.pdf

Appendix 2 Geological Heritage within the AONBs

The geological history of the three AONBs; Ring of Gullion, Mourne and Strangford and Lecale, can be described broadly as a Tale of Two Oceans.

Over 400 million years ago, the island of Ireland as we now know it was literally split in two, with the upper half of the island being attached to Scotland, and the lower half to Wales and England. In between lay a vast ocean known as the Iapetus Ocean. Remnants of this ocean can be found as mudstones, siltstone and sandstones that would have formed on the bottom of this vast waterbody, and are now seen exposed along the majority of the coast of and particularly around Strangford Lough.

As the Earth’s plates moved, the vast ocean began to close, bringing together the two halves and finally colliding about 400 million years ago. The huge forces required to bring two plates together generated vast amounts of heat below the surface leading to the formation of a great amount of molten rock. This stayed beneath the surface where it cooled and hardened and it is now seen as the Newry ‘granite’ exposed along the A1 and part of a large body of rock that extends from Forkhill all the way up to .

Fast forward to about 60 million years ago when a new ocean is beginning to form, but this time it is the Atlantic Ocean as North America and Europe are gradually pulling apart from each other. The huge forces required to pull continents apart generates huge amounts of heat and results in the formation of molten rock. This is seen at the Ring of Gullion where a circular fracture in the existing rocks was filled with molten rock before it cooled and hardened. It is also seen as the where huge volumes of molten rock gathered beneath the surface before cooling and hardening to form the famous mountains. It is also seen more discretely at Scrabo Hill where the peak of the hill is formed from molten rock that cooled and hardened forming a protective barrier and causing it to stand proud from the surrounding landscape.

The closing of one ocean and the opening of another, has led to the formation of the majority of the rocks in the Ring of Gullion, Mourne and Strangford and Lecale AONBs, all in the course of the area’s 400 million year history. In reality however, the geological heritage covers a lot more than this including the internationally important glacial deposits and landscapes around Strangford Lough. In total the area contains evidence of seven out of the 13 geological time periods making it one of the most geologically diverse areas for its size in Europe.

Other Heritage

UNESCO Global Geoparks are not just about geology but also include sites that are of interest for their history, archaeology, biodiversity, folklore, cultural heritage and also for intangible heritage. In the proposed UNESCO Global Geopark area there are many sites that also fall within these categories. These include the outstanding biodiversity around Strangford Lough and the upland areas of the Mournes, the fascinating Anglo-Norman, Viking, and early Christian heritage and the numerous prehistoric monuments that litter the landscape in many parts of the proposed area all of which are linked intrinsically to the landscape. This list is not exhaustive by any means and a full site assessment will be carried as part of the UNESCO Global Geopark application document preparation process.

Appendix 3

Strangford and Lecale AONB

Geodiversity Audit - Preliminary Results

Background

The Geological Survey of Northern Ireland (GSNI) were asked to carry out a geodiversity audit to assess sites to include in a potential UNESCO Global Geopark that fall within the Strangford and Lecale AONB. These would be in addition to those selected from within the Mourne AONB and Ring of Gullion AONB.

Selection Methodology

Sites were identified from the following sources:

 Areas of Special Scientific Interest (Earth Science value)  Earth Science Conservation Review (ESCR) sites  Amenity sites owned by either Council area  Sites known personally to the author  Sites listed in the SLLP Geology booklet

Selection Criteria

Sites included were assessed using the following criteria:

 Geological and / or Earth science value  Site ownership  Public access  Ownership  Facilities available to include: o Parking o Toilets o Tables o Walking o Interpretation (geological)

Site Classification

After assessment, the sites were classified as either green, amber or red and these were done as follows:

Green sites require minimal work to bring them up to UNESCO Global Geopark standard. In most cases this requires simply the addition of geological interpretation.

Amber sites require substantial work to bring them up to UNESCO Global Geopark standard. In some cases this is in the provision of facilities, but this also includes sites with good facilities that are owned by organisations other than the relevant Council. Sites not owned by the Council will require some form of legal agreement such as a Memorandum of Understanding to be officially classed as a ‘Geopark Partner’. Whilst this may not be an issue, sites have been classed as amber in recognition of this.

Red sites should not be included as UNESCO Global Geopark sites primarily because they are in private ownership and have no facilities available at present. This does not exclude them from being added in the future should these issues be addressed.

Special note: In the case of Whitespots-, whilst the site meets all of the selection criteria outlined above, it has been awarded amber status as this is a special case due to the complex nature of the site. It is an abandoned mine site with superb geology that should be developed as a tourist attraction. However, the current state of the site means that it would take substantial work to bring it up to UNESCO Global Geopark status and to ensure that the site is safe for Appendix 3

visitors to enjoy. It is recommended that a specific feasibility study be commissioned for the lead mines to address the very specific issues with the site and identify ways to develop it effectively to make it a world-class tourist attraction that would be a great addition to any UNESCO Global Geopark.

Results

A total of 23 potential sites were identified within the Strangford and Lecale AONB, 8 of these being classed as ‘green’ sites. The breakdown of their relevant Council area and their classification has been provided below:

No. of sites Council Area Green Amber Red Ards & North Down 3 6* 2 Newry, Mourne & 5 4 3 Down Total 8 10 5

In comparison, there are 21 ‘green’ sites that are either already at the required standard or that require minimal work to achieve this within the Mourne AONB (14) and the Ring of Gullion AONB (7) as identified during the Mourne Cooley Gullion Geotourism Project geodiversity audit.

*Includes Whitespots which is outside the SLLP AONB boundary.

Appendix 3

Site Name Grid Reference Council Designation Earth Science Interest Public Site Facilities Priority

Area Access Ownership

Parking Toilets Tables Walks Interpretation (link with Killard J5924442024 NMD N/A Final stages of the last glaciations seen exposed in boulder beach and low cliff. Yes NMD X X Point, Cloghan Head and Council ) Ballyquintin J625454 AND ASSI / ESCR At Ballyquintin Point a series of rock platforms, cliffs and an extensive gravel Yes NT X X X depositional feature provide evidence of former shorelines above the present level. Although largely vegetated, the gravel feature is clearly discernible and a few disused borrow pits provide exposure. Castle Espie J4967 AND ESCR Carboniferous limestones of the Castle Espie Group formerly exposed at Castle Yes WWT X X X X X Espie are the sole occurrence of late-Visean strata in north Co. Down. The rocks are highly fossiliferous and rest unconformably on Lower Palaeozoic greywackes. J5729849252 NMD N/A Exposures of vertically dipping Silurian Hawick Group as well as a number of Yes NT X X X X lamprophyre intrusions. Cloghan Head (see Ballyhornan) J578387 NMD ESCR The coast at Cloghan Head exposes a section through the Silurian Yes NMD Formation with well-developed sedimentary structures, several well-developed Council bentonite horizons and several lamprophyre intrusions. Cunningburn J5387070509 AND N/A Distinctive red Triassic Sherwood Sandstone that has led to the coloration of mud Yes AND X X X and soils. Butterlump Stone glacial erratic is also found. Council Delamont Country Park J5102650650 NMD N/A Drumlin landscapes around Strangford Lough. Strangford Stone and connections Yes NMD X X X X with Mourne Granite. Council Island Hill J4903168934 AND N/A Views of Scrabo, and the flat plains of rich agricultural soil. Distinctive late glacial Yes AND X X X X muds of the lough. Council Kearney J6492951762 AND N/A In coastal exposures it is possible to demonstrate the relationships between Yes NT X X X Silurian country rocks and foliated lamprophyre dykes of the older series. These dykes are believed to have been emplaced syn-tectonically during the Caledonian Orogeny and are generally associated with the nearby Newry Igneous Complex. Kilclief (see Ballyhornan) J5978745798 NMD N/A Early Norman Tower House with commanding views over the Bar Mouth, the Yes NMD X entrance to The Narrows (see ) and surrounding drumlin landscape. Council Excellent coastal section from Kilclief to Ballyhornan with a great diversity of rocks and deposits, including Silurian, folded and faulted, greywacke sandstone and mudstones, and glacial and postglacial gravel, sands and muds. Killard Point (see Ballyhornan) J610433 NMD ESCR/ASSI This designated site records the events and processes that operated in this area Yes NMD X from 15,000 to 13,000 years ago during the closing stages of the final glaciation to Council affect Ireland, the Midlandian. The site is of such importance that this short period has won a place in the scientific literature as the Killard Point Event. Mount Stewart J5522269668 AND N/A Silurian Gala Group exposures with interesting associations with shallow aquifers Yes NT X X X X and groundwater abstraction Portaferry – Windmill Hill J5997449391 AND N/A Views across The Narrows formed as glacial meltwater excavated its way though. Yes AND X X Views from Windmill Hill are especially good over the drumlin landscape. Council Quoile J500478 NMD ASSI The area is set within the drumlin landscape of County Down and is centred Yes NIEA X X X X around the former tidal estuary of the Quoile River. Following the construction of a flood-control barrage at Hare Island in 1957, the estuary became subject to more Appendix 3

pronounced freshwater influences. This led to changes in wetland communities from predominantly saline to brackish and freshwater. Rosemount J591675 AND ESCR The disused quarries at Rosemount provide good exposures of the Tullykevin No Private Formation. These mostly argillaceous sediments contain interbedded horizons of greywacke displaying numerous sedimentary structures, which provide important indicators of younging direction in an otherwise monotonous argillaceous sequence. Rowallane Gardens J4084457622 NMD N/A Silurian Gala Group exposures. Yes NT X X X X Scrabo Hill and Quarries J479727 AND ESCR / ASSI The sections exposed in the South Quarry at Scrabo provide good examples of Yes NIEA X X X X X sedimentary structures in the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone Group together with Palaeogene dolerite sills and the associated contact metamorphism and mineralisation. Sheepland Coast (access from J584399 NMD ASSI The rock exposures along the Sheepland Coast are exceptional, providing much Yes NMD X X Ballyhornan) detail of the important geology of the area. The exposures are composed of Lower Council Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks of deep marine facies, strongly folded, faulted and weakly metamorphosed. The main rock types are thinly-bedded, fine-grained sandstones and siltstones of the Hawick Group. These are Silurian sedimentary rocks of approximately 395 million years old and are part of the Scottish Southern Uplands / Irish Down Longford Terrane, which records the closure of the Iapetus Ocean during the Caledonian Orogeny. Slievenagriddle J522449 NMD ESCR A series of exposures on the southern slopes of Slievenagriddle are considered to No Private represent three intrusions of the igneous rock markfieldite. As such they are the only known exposures of markfieldite in Northern Ireland. St. John’s Point J527333 NMD ESCR/ASSI A dyke swarm of Palaeogene age intruded into Lower Palaeozoic sandstones and No Private shales in the -Ardglass area. The dykes are principally basaltic in composition and have a number of petrological and chemical differences from the adjacent Mourne dyke swarm, and also from the Antrim dykes. Tieveshilly J615482 AND ASSI The rocks at Tieveshilly contain a rich graptolite fauna within shales of Ordovician No Private and Silurian age. The graptolitic shales are historically important for their contribution to resolving Upper Ordovician and Lower Silurian stratigraphy in this area. The site is of international importance as it contributes significantly to an understanding of the processes involved in the formation of the British and Irish Caledonide rock series, and their timing. Whitespots-Conlig X39423765 AND ESCR The Whitespots - Conlig lead mines is an extensive site comprising several spoil Yes AND X X X X heaps, tailings impoundments, capped mine shafts and architectural features Council including engine houses and chimney stacks. The spoil material contains hydrothermal vein minerals, notably galena, chalcopyrite, barite, dolomite, calcite and rare harmotome (the only known occurrence in Northern Ireland) and ore textures that demonstrate the origin of the mineralization. Woodgrange J440445 NMD ESCR The site at Woodgrange has been selected as the type site for late-glacial climatic No Private X X oscillation following deglaciation in Ireland. Although many of the late-glacial sites in Ireland record a common sequence of events, Woodgrange records the very first plant colonisation possibly around 13,000 years ago.

Appendix 4 Geodiversity Audit ANDBC

Site Name Grid Reference Council Designation AONB Earth Science Interest Public Site Facilities Priority

Area Access Ownership

Parking Toilets Tables Walks Interpretation Pier J36603633 AND ESCR No Lamprophyre dyke with fragments of material similar to that found in Lake District. Yes AND X X X X Evidence of links between magma sources. Council Ballyquintin J625454 AND ASSI / ESCR Yes At Ballyquintin Point a series of rock platforms, cliffs and an extensive gravel Yes NT X X X depositional feature provide evidence of former shorelines above the present level. Although largely vegetated, the gravel feature is clearly discernible and a few disused borrow pits provide exposure. Barnagh Bay, Copeland J586841 AND ESCR No Caledonian lamprophyre dykes are very well developed on the wave-cut platforms No TBC X X X X Island around the coast of the Main Copeland Island. An example of a multiple intrusion in Ordovician rocks occurs at Barnagh Bay. Castle Espie J4967 AND ESCR Yes Carboniferous limestones of the Castle Espie Group formerly exposed at Castle Espie Yes WWT X X X X X are the sole occurrence of late-Visean strata in north Co. Down. The rocks are highly fossiliferous and rest unconformably on Lower Palaeozoic greywackes. Bay J6464556245 AND ESCR (part No Modern coastal processes including an upturned spit Yes AND X X X X of Outer Council Ards ASSI) Coalpit Bay J5944778975 AND ESCR (part No Coalpit Bay, near Donaghadee, is the best-developed and most historically important Yes AND X X X X of Outer outcrop of Moffat Shales in Ireland. These are a condensed succession of grey or black, Council Ards ASSI) often richly fossiliferous, graptolitic shales ranging in age from Caradoc (454 Ma) to Upper Llandovery (400 Ma). Interbedded with the shales are some 50 bands of bentonite clay, each representing a fall of fine-grained volcanic material spewed out from some neighbouring volcanic arc. J4651582192 AND Country No Fantastic geology garden installation, Scrabo sandstone bridge, exposures of Yes NIEA X X X X Country Park Park Ordovician greywacke in waterfalls and on caost J413810 AND ESCR No There are only three small surface exposures of Permian rocks in Northern Ireland and Yes AND X ? X the outcrop on the foreshore at Cultra, about 320 m long, is the most extensive and Council varied. It is a fragment of a much more extensive succession of rocks that have been badly mauled by earthquakes and faulting. Cunningburn J5387070509 AND N/A Yes Distinctive red Triassic Sherwood Sandstone that has led to the coloration of mud and Yes AND X X X soils. Butterlump Stone glacial erratic is also found. Council Helen’s Bay and J4532182545 AND N/A No Helen’s Bay Beach ‘Horse Rock’ and submarine volcanics, Quarry Port links with Yes AND X X X X coastal walk industrial / geological heritage, Helen’s Bay buliding stones Council Island Hill J4903168934 AND N/A Yes Views of Scrabo, and the flat plains of rich agricultural soil. Distinctive late glacial muds Yes AND X X X X of the lough. Council Kearney J6492951762 AND N/A Yes In coastal exposures it is possible to demonstrate the relationships between Silurian Yes NT X X X country rocks and foliated lamprophyre dykes of the older series. These dykes are believed to have been emplaced syn-tectonically during the Caledonian Orogeny and are generally associated with the nearby Newry Igneous Complex. Lightouse and Mew J5985 AND ESCR No The continuous shore sections of highly tectonised Ordovician rocks on both No TBC Islands Lighthouse and Mew Islands provide impressive displays of Caledonian folding. Mount Stewart J5522269668 AND N/A Yes Silurian Gala Group exposures with interesting associations with shallow aquifers and Yes NT X X X X groundwater abstraction Orlock Bridge J565829 AND ESCR (part No Orlock Bridge affords the most spectacular example of fault associated rock Yes AND X ? of Outer deformation in Northern Ireland. Mylonites and breccias have been generated from Council Ards ASSI) the country rocks by movement on the Orlock Bridge Fault. This major fracture Appendix 4 Geodiversity Audit ANDBC

separates the Upper Ordovician Northern Belt from the mainly Silurian Central Belt along a line traced from County Cavan to south of Dunbar. Portaferry – Windmill J5997449391 AND N/A Yes Views across The Narrows formed as glacial meltwater excavated its way though. Yes AND X X Hill Views from Windmill Hill are especially good over the drumlin landscape. Council Ringboy Point J6502657434 AND ESCR (part No Raised cobble beaches formed just after the end of the last glaciation Yes AND X of Outer Council Ards ASSI) Roddan’s Port J641658 AND ESCR No Buried beneath the foreshore gravels at Roddan’s Port between two truncated Yes AND X ? X drumlins is a sequence of rocks that attracted early attention because stumps of Scots Council Pine could be seen in a bed of peat. It attracted renewed attention in the 1960s when it became the subject of a thorough research investigation and, with some of the earliest carbon dates, established a sequence of events at the very end of the last glaciation (the Midlandian). Rosemount J591675 AND ESCR Yes The disused quarries at Rosemount provide good exposures of the Tullykevin No Private Formation. These mostly argillaceous sediments contain interbedded horizons of greywacke displaying numerous sedimentary structures, which provide important indicators of younging direction in an otherwise monotonous argillaceous sequence. Scrabo Hill and J479727 AND ESCR / ASSI Yes The sections exposed in the South Quarry at Scrabo provide good examples of Yes NIEA X X X X X Quarries sedimentary structures in the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone Group together with Palaeogene dolerite sills and the associated contact metamorphism and mineralisation. Tieveshilly J615482 AND ASSI Yes The rocks at Tieveshilly contain a rich graptolite fauna within shales of Ordovician and No Private Silurian age. The graptolitic shales are historically important for their contribution to resolving Upper Ordovician and Lower Silurian stratigraphy in this area. The site is of international importance as it contributes significantly to an understanding of the processes involved in the formation of the British and Irish Caledonide rock series, and their timing. Whiskin Rocks J615734 AND ESCR (part No A notable lamprophyre dyke near Ballywhiskin Bay contains xenolithic material Yes AND X of Outer comparable to the Borrowda1e Volcanic series of the Lake District. This indicates an Council Ards ASSI) important depth relationship between this series and the County Down Silurian defined by an underlying thrust slice. Whitespots-Conlig X39423765 AND ESCR No The Whitespots - Conlig lead mines is an extensive site comprising several spoil heaps, Yes AND X X X X tailings impoundments, capped mine shafts and architectural features including Council engine houses and chimney stacks. The spoil material contains hydrothermal vein minerals, notably galena, chalcopyrite, barite, dolomite, calcite and rare harmotome (the only known occurrence in Northern Ireland) and ore textures that demonstrate the origin of the mineralization.

Unclassified

ITEM 6

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Regeneration and Development

Date of Meeting 11 January 2018

Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning

Responsible Head of Temporary Head of Tourism Service

Date of Report 15 December 2017

File Reference TO/TD22

Legislation

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject DAERA Rural Tourism Scheme - Ballycopeland Windmill

Attachments

Background

The Rural Tourism Scheme, operated by DAERA, opened a call on 13 November 2017 for Expressions of Interest for submissions under its Capital Scheme. Applicants must be Local Authorities but can partner with other statutory organisations. The current call for Expressions of Interest closes on 29 January 2018. DAERA has also advised that financial assistance is available for Technical Assistance to work up projects towards full Capital Scheme applications.

Projects proposed must align with the aims and objectives of Tourism NI and should, as a priority, target out of state visitors. Further to this, projects should typically:

 Create jobs (during capital build and after completion)  Promote and encourage a partnership approach with other statutory organisations sharing a common goal  Be “flagship” unique/notable/high impact rural tourism focussed initiatives.

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Unclassified

The Scheme will invest in natural and built heritage projects that can act as key drivers of rural tourism, particularly by out of state visitors, whilst preserving the built and natural assets of the rural community. Support will be available for:

 Development of rural tourism infrastructure using cultural and natural heritage  Conservation of small scale rural built heritage for tourism use.

The Scheme

Call Grant Technical Assistance up to £50,000 at 75% level of support. Remaining (available call 1 Dec 2017 25% to be met in cash by promoter/partner – 27 April 2017) Capital Grant Minimum £250,000 up to a maximum £500,000 at (available call 7 May 2018 75% level of support. If promoter/partner application – 1 Oct 2018) a minimum 10% cash contribution must apply, remainder may be Contribution in Kind for technical expertise.

Potential Project

During November and December, ANDBC’s Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning and Temporary Head of Tourism have met with the Deputy Director, Historic Environments Division, Department for Communities. These meetings have been very positive regarding potential partnership working and exploring ways to make cultural heritage, including built heritage, more accessible. This is an identified theme emerging within the Integrated, Tourism, Regeneration and Development Strategy and is also reflected in the Community Plan.

Historic Environments Division (HED) has indicated that it plans to invest further in local Heritage sites, one of which is Ballycopeland Windmill. In recent times, DfC investment in the site has included design and manufacture of the sails on the Windmill (Best Craftsmanship Category Award winner in the NI Heritage Angels Awards in November 2017). This investment has also enabled visitors to access the site as a visitor attraction once again. During open weekends in the summer the site recorded 1911 visitors. It should be noted that during the European Heritage Day Open Weekend and the enhanced opening for the Stamp launch in June each weekend attracted 576 and 377 visitors respectively, highlighting the impact and importance of marketing the site, as a visitor attraction.

There is now potential for a second phase of development of the site. Phase Two would enhance it to attract out of state visitors and increase its capacity to be a primary visitor experience in the area. There would be two primary elements to this phase, alongside further refurbishment and repair work on the site:

(i) Development of interpretation to provide a unique visitor experience, utilising both traditional and innovative technologies such as Virtual or Augmented Reality, which will increase dwell time and attract more visitors

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Unclassified

(ii) Development of improved visitor access and orientation including the appropriate reconfiguration and development of a new car park, allowing the site to realize its full visitor potential.

The realisation of this development phase would require delivery of a business plan (including operational delivery and visitor projections), visitor management plan, interpretation expertise and Technical Design Study. The successful acquisition of land by HED for the development of the car park is also a prerequisite.

The progression of Phase 2 has now been discussed in detail with HED, involving Finance and Performance colleagues, to explore the potential of a Development Agreement and confirm how a partnership between the Council and HED would work in practice. Consequently, Council officers are now in a position to progress an application to the Rural Tourism Scheme and prepare an Expression of Interest within the current call*. Within the partnership the Council would be the lead applicant and, as such, would be responsible for meeting the requirements of any Letter of Offer, which are likely to be relate to the number of out of state visitors to the Windmill.

*Should there be any unforeseen delay, there may be a second call, dependent on sufficient funds being available as below:

Type of Call Opening Date Closing Date EOI 2 April 2018 15 June 2018 Application for technical 7 May 2018 1 October 2018 assistance or grant

Finance

If the Expression of Interest is approved by DAERA, the Council as lead applicant can then be invited to apply for either Technical Assistance or Capital Grant. On review of the project with HED colleagues, and on advice provided by the Rural Tourism Scheme Manager, it is anticipated that the Council will be invited to apply for Technical Assistance. This application will require full costs of the Phase 2 programme. HED will be responsible for furnishing the Council with the costs and the confirmation of the land acquisition within the application deadline, to allow the Technical Assistance application to proceed.

If the Council were to secure the full grant for Technical Assistance of £50,000 and share the 25% match fund equally with HED, it is estimated that approximately £9000 would be required as a cash contribution from Council.

If further to this, a subsequent Capital Grant application were made and the maximum grant is attained up to circa £500,000, 10% of the total project cost must be a cash contribution. It is assumed at this stage that the project would be striving to attain the maximum grant at total project value of circa £600,000 (any grant already paid toward Technical Assistance is deducted from the overall grant award at this stage). Half of the 10% share would require a minimum cash contribution of circa £30,000 by the Council. The remaining 15% could be via Contribution in Kind,

Page 3 of 4

Unclassified which is anticipated would be the Technical labour resource supplied directly by HED staff.

If the project does not progress to full Capital Grant the technical assistance Grant must be reimbursed.

Before applying for the Capital Grant planning approval and procurement must be completed (Final application date 1st October 2018). HED are currently working up a full project plan and timescales to ensure they can meet the tight timeframes within the DAERA application process.

The prerequisite to the project proceeding is confirmation from HED and provided in writing to DAERA, is that the land acquisition to develop the car park must be in place at the time of application for Technical Assistance.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the Council approves

1) the submission of an Expression of Interest to the Rural Tourism Scheme for the development of Ballycopeland Windmill as a unique visitor attraction, and subsequent progression of the application, subject to a Development Agreement being concluded between HED and ANDBC which meets all DAERA’s requirements under the Scheme. 2) the allocation of up to £10,000 within 2018/19 Tourism revenue budgets to meet the cash contribution under the Technical Assistance application, and £30,000 within 2018/19 Capital budgets, to meet the match funding requirements of any future Capital grant applications.

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Unclassified

ITEM 7

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Regeneration and Development Committee

Date of Meeting 11 January 2018

Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning

Responsible Head of Temporary Head of Tourism Service

Date of Report 21 December 2017

File Reference

Legislation n/a

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject Creation of the Northern Ireland Tourism Alliance

Attachments Letter from Chief Executive Tourism NI

The Northern Ireland Tourist Board have written to the Chief Executive on the plans to establish a Northern Ireland Tourism Alliance. This would provide a single voice for the tourism industry in Northern Ireland, enabling the industry to better make the case for resources, advocate for policy changes and articulate the benefits tourism brings to the regional economy.

Last year in the region of 4.5 million visitors came to Northern Ireland generating in the region of £764 million, which supported over 45,000 jobs. Overnight tourism spend generated £46 million to the Ards and North Down Borough, with the hospitality sector being one of the top four largest employing sectors in the area (10%).

However, tourism to other parts of the UK and to the Republic of Ireland are significantly higher. For example, last year the Republic of Ireland generated in the region of €76 billion from both domestic and overseas tourism, which in turn supported 148,300 jobs. Therefore, the potential to grow tourism spend and jobs within Northern Ireland is significant. The Integrated Tourism, Regeneration and Development Strategy has set ambitious targets to grow tourism numbers, spend and jobs to the Borough over the next 12 years.

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It is recognised that having a strong collective industry voice to champion the tourism sector is a positive step in the development of the tourism industry within Northern Ireland. Tourism NI have asked all 11 local authorities to engage as members of the NI Tourism Alliance with a yearly contribution of £2,000 per Council.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that Council approve membership of NI Tourism Alliance with an annual contribution of £2,000 towards the running of the Alliance.

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Stephen Reid Chief Executive Ards & North Down Borough Council

15 December 2017

Dear Stephen,

Creation of the Northern Ireland Tourism Alliance

I am writing to you to follow up from my meeting with a number of the local authority Chief Executives at the SoLACE meeting in on 3 November 2017.

Following that meeting the Steering Group set up to explore the potential for creating an independent, private sector led representative body for the tourism industry met on 4 December 2017.

This Steering Group, which was facilitated by Tourism NI, was chaired by Ellvena Graham, President of the NI Chamber of Commerce and consisted of a number of individuals with a key interest in the development of the tourism industry.

As I outlined at the SoLACE meeting, the purpose of the Northern Ireland Tourism Alliance is to champion the tourism sector and its benefits to the regional economy, make the case for resources to be made available for the development and delivery of tourism growth, including the work of local government, and to advocate for positive policy change in areas such as VAT, APD and Licencing Legislation.

Following on from our meeting it was agreed by the Steering Group that it would be important to have all 11 local authorities engaged as members of the Alliance, given local government’s role in delivering major visitors attractions, visitor servicing through TICs, regeneration and development of their local tourism industries. It was also recognised that given the scale of the contribution made by the local government sector that it should be afforded a seat at the Executive of the Alliance.

It is important to emphasise that this is not a Tourism NI initiative however ourselves and Tourism Ireland would attend as observers and contribute £30,000 per annum towards the running costs of the Alliance.

Tourism NI, Floors 10-12, Linum Chambers, Bedford Square, Bedford Street, Belfast BT2 7ES Telephone: +44 (0)28 9023 1221 Fax: +44 (0)28 9024 0960

Corporate website: tourismni.com Consumer website: discovernorthernireland.com

Tourism Northern Ireland is an Equal Opportunities Employer. Tourism Northern Ireland (Tourism NI) is the trading name of The Northern Ireland Tourist Board.

Chairman: Terence Brannigan Chief Executive: John McGrillen

Currently each of the following organisations have agreed to commit to £5,000 per annum in membership fees to ensure the Alliance is suitably resourced to fulfil its objectives:

- Belfast Harbour - George Best Belfast City Airport - Belfast International Airport - British Airways - Aer Lingus - FlyBe - NI Hotels Federation - National Trust - National Museums NI - Titanic Belfast - Visit Belfast - Hospitality Ulster - Translink - Stena Line - ABTA - NI Federation of Passenger Transport - Food NI

In order to ensure the new Northern Ireland Tourism Alliance would be suitably resourced it is hoped that each of the Councils could contribute £2,000 per annum towards the running costs. Given that one of the objectives will be to lobby government for capital funding for Council led tourism projects this is likely to prove to be a minimal investment with significant return for the Council and tourism businesses in the area.

At the conclusion of the meeting on 4 December it was agreed that I, on behalf of the Steering Group, would write to you and ask you to propose to your Council that it become a member of the NI Tourism Alliance.

In the meantime Janice Gault, CEO of the NI Hotels Federation, and Colin Neill, CEO of Hospitality Ulster, have agreed to become Directors in the first instance to get the company incorporated and registered at Companies House. It was also agreed that Doreen McKenzie be appointed as interim CEO for a six month period in order to get the NI Tourism Alliance up and running and to facilitate the recruitment of a permanent CEO.

Tourism NI, Floors 10-12, Linum Chambers, Bedford Square, Bedford Street, Belfast BT2 7ES Telephone: +44 (0)28 9023 1221 Fax: +44 (0)28 9024 0960

Corporate website: tourismni.com Consumer website: discovernorthernireland.com

Tourism Northern Ireland is an Equal Opportunities Employer. Tourism Northern Ireland (Tourism NI) is the trading name of The Northern Ireland Tourist Board.

Chairman: Terence Brannigan Chief Executive: John McGrillen

I do hope that the Council will see this as a very positive development for the local tourism industry and will see the value in becoming part of a single voice for tourism in Northern Ireland.

Yours,

John McGrillen Chief Executive Tourism NI

(on behalf of the NI Tourism Alliance)

Annex 1: NITA Memorandum and Articles of Association Annex 2: Letter to Companies House

Tourism NI, Floors 10-12, Linum Chambers, Bedford Square, Bedford Street, Belfast BT2 7ES Telephone: +44 (0)28 9023 1221 Fax: +44 (0)28 9024 0960

Corporate website: tourismni.com Consumer website: discovernorthernireland.com

Tourism Northern Ireland is an Equal Opportunities Employer. Tourism Northern Ireland (Tourism NI) is the trading name of The Northern Ireland Tourist Board.

Chairman: Terence Brannigan Chief Executive: John McGrillen Unclassified

ITEM 8

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Regeneration and Development

Date of Meeting 11 January 2018

Responsible Director Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning

Responsible Head of Head of Regeneration Service

Date of Report 12 December 2017

File Reference 160135

Legislation

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject Review and Updating of Village Plans - NIHE Grant Received.

Attachments N/A

As Members will be aware, the Council is currently progressing the review and updating of a number of village plans in the Borough, namely , , , Helens Bay & Crawfordsburn, , Lisbane & Lisbarnett and . This work is now well underway with draft plans due for presentation to the villages in early 2018.

The total cost of this project, including the printing of the plans, is £40,874. As previously advised, the Council had been successful in availing of £30,655.50 (75%) funding towards the updating of these plans through the Rural Development Programme – Village Renewal Scheme.

Earlier this year an application for match funding for the project had also been submitted to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive’s RDP Match-Funding Initiative 2017-2020. This application was agreed, but because of oversubscription was put on the reserve list initially. Correspondence has now been received stating that the application has recently been approved, securing £7,800 towards the project costs.

Page 1 of 2

Unclassified

This now reduces the Council’s overall contribution for the project to £1,950.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that Council notes the content of this report and welcomes the funding from the NIHE.

Page 2 of 2

(a)

Correspondence from Home Secretary 21 December 2017 for information -

I am writing to update you following last week’s agreement at the European Council for negotiations between the UK and the EU to move to a discussion about our future relationship.

This is good news for the EU citizens living in your local area and for people who rely on the services and support they provide, either as direct local authority employees or through their work with your contractual suppliers.

The Prime Minister has consistently said that protecting EU citizens’ rights - together with the rights of UK nationals living in EU countries - has been her first priority. EU citizens made a decision to live here without any expectation that the UK would leave the EU. The UK government wants them to be able to carry on living their lives as before.

We have taken a big step forward. EU citizens living lawfully here before the UK’s exit from the EU will be able to stay. The deal will respect the rights that individuals are exercising and the benefits they currently have. This will help EU citizens and large organisations like yours plan for the future.

The agreement will not only enable families who have built their lives in the EU and UK to stay together, it also gives certainty about healthcare, pensions and other benefits. It includes reciprocal rules to protect existing decisions to recognise professional qualifications, for example for doctors and architects.

These commitments will be locked into a binding and reciprocal agreement with the EU. You can read the agreement here.

All EU citizens will need to apply to obtain status in UK law. A new, transparent, smooth and streamlined process to enable them to apply for settled status will start during the second half of 2018 and remain open for at least two years after the UK leaves the EU.

Communicating with EU citizens about the scheme will be a top priority for my department to ensure people are aware of the scheme and what they need to do to secure their rights. My officials are working closely with a range of organisations in the design of the scheme. It will be vital that you are kept up to date and feel equipped to pass on information to your staff and partners. GOV.UK will be updated with the latest position.

As we move from withdrawal issues to discussing our future relationship with the EU, I shall shortly be publishing proposals for the UK’s future immigration system, and bringing forward an Immigration Bill as announced in the Queen’s Speech. My officials and I will continue to engage with local authorities and as many sectors as possible as part of this process.

I hope this email provides reassurance to you and your teams. I would encourage you to share the links to further information above with anyone you think will find it useful. Your [Type here]

staff can also sign up for regular official email updates on citizens’ rights from the government.

I look forward to sharing further progress with you over the coming months.

Yours sincerely,

Amber Rudd Home Secretary