Work gets underway before councils amagamate in 2015

Work gets underway before councils amagamate in 2015

17 July 2013

DOWN and Newry and Mourne councillors have formally met for the first time in public ahead of their merger in 2015.

The meeting of the Statutory Transition Committee (STC) was held in Down Council’s new £11m headquarters on Wednesday.

Designed to deal with the practical issues of the merger, the committee will also have to approve capital spend on projects across the new council area.

The most potentially controversial issue — Down’s plans for a £7.5m leisure centre in Newcastle — was not discussed.

Instead it was a day for deciding protocol. Downpatrick SDLP councillor Colin McGrath chaired the inaugural meeting and was elected its official chairman for the next six months.

Some debate followed over the election of the vice-chairman. Unionist councillors had wanted the election of Newry DUP councillor William Burns but the remainder of councillors voted for Sinn Fein’s Michael Ruane. Mr. Ruane is a former mayor of Newry.

Ulster Unionist councillor Robert Burgess questioned the use of the D’Honte process of selection — which allocates positions according to a party’s political strength. Mr. Burgess stressed the need for unionist representation on the committee. He later said he did not want the new STC to be a “cold house for Protestants”.

Johnny McBride, who is managing the merger of the two councils, said the STC needed to agree a draft budget, its budget for committees and the small practical differences between the two councils.

“It costs £10 in Down District Council to have bulky waste lifted. It costs £5 in Newry and Mourne,” he said. “There are other examples we need to work through.”

Each party then nominated two representatives to sit on the Finance and Policy working parties, which will report back to the STC.

The two councils will be combined into one as part of the Review of Public Administration, a process that will reduce the number of councils in Northern Ireland from 26 to 11. This work was originally scheduled to have been completed in 2011 but will now not be finished until April 2015.

The next meeting of the STC will be held on August 27.

Speaking after Wednesday’s meeting councillor McGrath said: “The new council will be stronger, more efficient and will deliver more effective services.

“It will be citizen focused, responding to their needs, aspirations and concerns of their communities. I am delighted to have been elected as chairman of the Statutory Transition Committee which will shape and guide the future development of our new council.”