Ministerial meeting sought over town's regeneration

The decision to do so was made at last Wednesday night’s monthly meeting of the local authority on receipt of a letter from the Minister stating that she was currently unable make a funding commitment as her capital funding budget for the coming financial year had not yet been confirmed.

She went on, however, to encourage the Council to work directly with officials from her Department “so that the actions identified and prioritised in the Masterplan can be worked up and the Department has a strong case to bid for the required resources”.

“This process has worked well in other council areas abd ebabked the Department to commit funding for a number of successful projects, including significant public realm schemes in town centres,” the Minister stated.

She added: “I understand the Council is currently carrying out a strategic review of its town centre partnership structure.

opportune

“This may be an opportune time to examine ways in which the Council and my Department can work together better on the delivery of the Masterplan actions”.

The Minister observed that the objectives of the Ballymena Masterplan are to maintain the town’s role as a major retail centre while identifying opportunities to broaden the town centre’s economic base into sectors such as the office market and leisure activities.

It was pointed out to the meeting by Council Chief Executive, Anne Donaghy, that Ballymena’s Town Centre Partnership, chaired by Councillor PJ McAvoy, were continuing to work hard on the project behind the scenes.

She said: “They have identified a number of recommendations as to how we can work to achieve this and they are already beginning to action these”.