Council spends £10k sending officials to real estate ‘jolly’ in France

Council spends £10k sending officials to real estate ‘jolly’ in France

17 April 2019

NEWRY, Mourne and Down Council was one of six local authorities which spent more than £120,000 sending 

officials to a real estate conference in the south of France, new figures have revealed.

The four-day event in March organised by MIPIM took place in upmarket Cannes — venue for the world-famous annual film festival.

MIPIM bills itself as “the world’s largest international property investment conference” which “gathers all the key international players of the real estate sector for four days of exhibition, networking, and transactions”.

Joining the local council at the event were Belfast City, Antrim and Newtownabbey, Ards and North Down, Lisburn and Castlereagh and Mid and East Antrim councils.

While it was the fourth year running that a group represented Belfast at the international event, it was the first time that the delegation included representatives from five other councils who are part of the Belfast Region City Deal investment programme.

The total cost of the trip to ratepayers was £122,300 with James Roberts, political director of right-wing pressure group the TaxPayers’ Alliance, questioning the benefits of the trip.

“Stories of bureaucrats taking swish trips to the south of France are starting to leave taxpayers with a sad sense of deja vu,” he said. “Council officials urgently need to cut back or justify jetting off on these jollies.”

The figures emerged days after a report revealed how 20 senior officials at councils here are on six-figure pay packages.

Newry, Mourne and Down Council — which spent £10,000 on the French trip —  was represented by chairman Mark Murnin, chief executive Liam Hannaway and Marie Ward, director of enterprise, regeneration and tourism.

A council statement said: “During the visit, the council delegation attended a number of meetings with potential investors.

“Newry, Mourne and Down Council continues to target significant private-sector investment to complement the City Deal funding recently secured for our district.”

The local authority said part of the area’s plans include the delivery of the Southern Relief Road, a new civic centre and a new conferencing and enhanced theatre facility in Newry. 

There are also plans for a new Mournes Gateway project, featuring a gondola ride into the heart of the Mournes and new visitor centre at a disused quarry at Thomas’s Mountain.