Mourne group gets bags funding boost

Mourne group gets bags funding boost

24 June 2015

THE financial crisis facing the Mourne Heritage Trust has been averted for the time being.

In April, the environmental organisation was left reeling when it was confirmed it was to lose a significant portion of its funding due to a cut in the Department of Environment’s budget as part of swingeing Stormont cuts. 

While the Trust had been expecting a reduction in Environment Agency funding, it never anticipated the scale of the cut which amounted to slashing its annual funding by 75 per cent, with warnings issued that several jobs were at risk.

The organisation launched the #LoveMourne campaign and an online petition to have its funding restored, with the initiative supported by local politicians and community groups.

This week, the Trust has secured a funding offer to take it through to the end of the financial year from the Natural Environment Fund which is financed through the plastic bag tax.

Trust chief executive Martin Carey said the offer has succeeded in relieving for the time being the resourcing crisis affecting the organisation and other environmental management bodies.  

He continued: “The award of funding to keep our activities sustained for the rest of the financial year is a huge relief and provides at least short term stability from which to build. 

“We have had a number of positive engagements with the Minister for the Environment and his officials in recent weeks. Accordingly, we are optimistic that a means can be found to sustain management services for the Mourne Area of Outstanding Beauty through the new Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DEARA) that is to be established in 2016.”

Mr Carey warned the Trust’s ability to keep pace with the management needs in the Mournes would be tested in the new funding context.

He explained that in addition to the uncertainty over long term arrangements continuing to impact on the Trust’s ability to plan, funding for the current financial year is still reduced by over 10 per cent across the various sources at a time when the interest in and pressure on the Mourne landscape is continuously growing.  

Mr Carey added: “The process of having Environment Agency funding restored has seen lobbying activities and entirely new funding applications consume significant staff time, leaving something of backlog of work in some areas. We ask people to bear with us as we strive to maintain and enhance the levels of service they have been used to.”

Trust chairman Desmond Patterson thanked all those who had expressed support for the Trust. He said the organisation was “overwhelmed” by the demonstrations of how people value the Mourne landscape and heritage and the work the Trust does to care for it.

“Our online petition has reached almost 1,500 signatures and the comments that accompany these show that this is not just token support. We have also had sterling support from our local elected representatives across the political spectrum and from Newry, Mourne and Down District Council,” Mr Patterson continued.

“Most of all, I wish to thank our loyal staff who, through a period of over six months in which their careers and livelihoods were thrown into uncertainty, have not only stuck with us, but stuck to their task and delivered our day-to-day services and projects. 

“Their dedication deserves the support that we have seen and I hope we can maintain the funds to ensure that their expertise and energy continues to be brought to good effect in caring for Mourne.”