From the pages of the Down Recorder, September 20, 1995

From the pages of the Down Recorder, September 20, 1995

17 September 2025

HOSPITALS – Down District has been plunged into yet another hospital crisis with the publication of a major new report by the Department of Health.

Under the Department’s new five year Regional Strategy not only is it extremely unlikely that a new acute hospital will be built in Downpatrick, but the existing Downe Hospital could be downgraded to mere “cottage” status.

The report is being viewed so seriously that the Down Lisburn Trust’s Chief Executive, Dr Collim Patton, is seeking an urgent meeting with Health Minister Malcolm Moss, while the Down Community Health Committee is considering a judicial review.

Basically, if the Strategy is implemented it could mean the removal of resident consultants from the Downe, the axing of the accident and emergency department, the downgrading of the Downpatrick Maternity Unit from consultant-led to midwife-led and the closure of more wards at the Downshire Hospital.

The Downe Hospital would lose its acute status, along with other peripheral hospitals, in favour of a pattern of just six acute hospitals in Northern Ireland – the Royal Victoria, Belfast City, Altnagelvin, Antrim, Craigavon and Dundonald.

SAINTFIELD – Down Council’s plan to develop a new grass playing facility and town park in Saintfield look doomed because the local authority does not have the money to buy the site.

A battle is looming between the council and a local businessman over the last remaining green area within the town boundary but the odds of securing its ownership appear to favour the private developer.

The council wants the land at Todds Hill for new sports pitches and a small town park and has already been granted outline planning permission. But a local businessman has also been granted permission for the same stretch of land to develop warehouses and stores.

The matter was debated at length during Monday night’s council meeting with the Client Services Director, Mr Frank Cunningham, admitting the local authority is in direct competition with the businessman.

DRUMANESS – The ongoing problems of noxious smells in Drumaness has prompted Down Council to again register its concern.

The council is writing to the Department of the Environment asking for action to be taken to alleviate a problem which one local councillor claimed has been ongoing for 10 years.

The council’s Environmental Health Department has identified the worst source of the small as the public sewer which passes under houses at Red Row.

This sewer carries legally discharged material from the Capitol Oils plant in the village and department officials say the only apparent remedy at present is for Capitol Oils to cease discharging into the public sewer.

The discharging of effluent into a public sewer is subject to licensing conditions from the Water Executive and to date no agreement has been reached with the manager of Capitol Oils.

DOWNPATRICK – Downpatrick traders will know early next week if they will be able to provide festive lighting in the town this Christmas.

Christmas lighting provision across Down District is to be discussed at a meeting of Down Council’s Client Services Committee next week when offers are expected to be made to the town’s Chamber of Commerce.

Cash aid is also to be made available to traders in Newcastle and Ballynahinch to help with their Christmas lighting programmes, but the main attention will inevitably focus on what allocation is made to Downpatrick Chamber during next week’s meeting.

Last week, the chamber warned there would be no festive lighting this year unless it receives £5,000 from the council to fund the programme which has been highly successful in recent years.

BALLYHORNAN – Last week’s decision to close Ballyhornan Post Office has angered local councillor Dermot Curran.

The outlet was closed without warning last Thursday and people in the area are having to travel to either Strangford or Ardglass for postal services.

Mr Curran has already raised the closure issue with senior offices from Post Office Counters and has been assured that the facility will reopen shortly.

However, he is concerned that in the meantime, elderly people in the Ballyhornan area and those without access to transport are suffering as a result of the closure.

ARDGLASS – The formal contract for a new 50-berth marina in Ardglass has been officially handed over to senior representatives of Charles Brand Ltd.

The Dromore-based firm is carrying out the work on the £1.4m project and the contract was signed and sealed last week and handed over to Mr Tom Wilson by the company secretary of Phennick Cove Developments, Mrs Paula Mahon.

Work started on the project several weeks ago after the finer details of the contract were hammered out, and the first boats are expected to berth in the new marina before the end of next summer.

During last week’s official handover, representatives from the various funders who have pledged financial support to the project were joined by members of the Phennick Cove Developments for a tour of the site.

SAINTFIELD – Details of a major investment programme which will double the size of Saintfield Health Centre, have this week been unveiled by the Down and Lisburn Trust.

Over £400,000 is to be spent at the facility to upgrade it as the Trust aims to create another example of its integrated models of primary healthcare in the area.

Over the past year, extensive refurbishment work was carried out at the Pound Lane Health Centre in Downpatrick, while similar facilities in Ballynahinch were reopened earlier this year following a malicious blaze at its Main Street complex.

Work at the Saintfield Centre could start before the end of the year and the present building will be extended to the rear to provide a range of new facilities.

DOWNPATRICK – A Downpatrick residential home has been officially reopened following a major refurbishment programme which has transformed it into one of the area’s latest resource centres.

The work has been carried out by the Down and Lisburn Trust and the new facility for the frail elderly has been given an enthusiastic welcome by local politicians and health workers.

Last Friday’s official opening was performed by South Down MP, Mr Eddie McGrady, who acknowledged the contributions made to the success of the project by local man, Mr Ciaran Mackel.

The building work was carried out by the Dundrum firm of Dunmore Construction which has worked closely with the Trust during the development of the new resource centre.

The new resource centre will enable St John’s to widen its use from purely residential care to flexible day and respite care and it now has the capabilities to deal with people who suffer from dementia.

ARDGLASS – Department of Education chiefs have this week been urged to prioritise the sale of a derelict school building in Ardglass.

The call has been made by councillor, Mr Dermot Curran, who says the former St Nicholas’ Primary School is an eyesore and does not lend itself to the efforts of people trying to improve Ardglass.

“There are people trying to enhance the village and work has already started on a new marina,” he said. “The former school is an eyesore and does not paint a particularly good impression of the village to visitors.”