A manifesto for Banbridge

Liam Hannaway, Chief Executive of Banbridge District Council, outlines how the Council is serving, supporting and championing the district.

Local government is undergoing a period of fundamental change. The reduction in resources arising from the on-going economic recession means much of our efforts are focused on the local economy and on championing the Banbridge district.

Developing the economy, local towns and rural areas:

This is perhaps one of the more difficult areas for local councils to be effective, and is particularly challenging for Banbridge as one of the smaller local councils with a low rates base.  However by working smarter and in partnership with other public bodies and the private and voluntary sectors we can make an impact.  The Banbridge Regeneration Company works with the Council to develop the town centre and keep important links with out of town centre developments.  It involves a partnership approach with representatives from all stakeholders and is very much the sum of all its parts.  A typical outcome from this co-operative approach is the free bus shuttle from the OUTLET centre into the town centre and the Tesco store development, with Tesco making a contribution to the environmental aspects of the bus station development project and agreeing to keep its existing in-town store open for at least another 10 years.

Achieving environmental excellence:

Banbridge has one of the highest recycling rates in Northern Ireland with 50 per cent of all municipal waste recycled and we hope to be close to the Minister’s target of 60 per cent recycled by the end of March 2013.  Education has been key to achieving such high recycling rates and we run schemes in partnership with local schools.  We also introduced a new bin scheme which will have saved £300,000 this year.  We have achieved a 90 per cent plus satisfaction rate for the delivery of environmental services. 
Improving health and wellbeing: 
The objective for the council is to promote increased participation in sport and active recreation using innovative programmes.  One such initiative, Teen Gym, has been successful in tackling teenage obesity.  It was decided to move away from summer schemes which tended to favour those who could afford to pay the weekly fee and move towards a more accessible and fairer scheme.  During July and August under-18s could use any leisure facility for £1 per session and the uptake exceeded all expectations with 17,000 visits by young people last summer.

Improving quality and customer service:

We are working to improve our existing services and to put in place measures which will help us to provide a customer service experience which meets users’ expectations. An example of this has been to develop our litter-pickers into town centre wardens with a more engaging role with local people and visitors to the district.

Change and governance:

Local government faces major change.  We are implementing a change management programme to ensure our organisation embraces these changes and ensures our services are fit for purpose in the future.  This includes the implementation of a Community Development Action Plan between Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Councils.  On governance, we seek to be prudent with ratepayers’ money and to be open and accountable in decisions on how we spend it.

A manifesto

Banbridge often feels it gets overlooked by central government, which tends to target investment at more deprived or densely populated areas.  The district appears also to get overlooked at a higher political level because it is split between three Assembly/Parliamentary constituencies and it has a relatively low level of unemployment.  To this end we have developed a Manifesto for the Banbridge district up until 2015.

Lack of investment: There are no development lands owned by Invest NI in the Banbridge district.  There are three key development sites adjacent to the A1 that are owned by private developers. With Invest NI owning sites in neighbouring council areas Banbridge needs to champion competitive disadvantage for the private sector.

Unemployment in the district has more than tripled from 1.2 per cent in 2006 to 3.8 per cent in 2011. Whilst the district’s unemployment level is below the Northern Ireland average, the rate of increase in unemployment in the last year has been twice the rate for the whole of Northern Ireland.  The primary industries in the area include construction and retail which are experiencing decline due to the recession.  Public sector employment in the district has also experienced a major reduction.

Although there are no major private sector employers in the district, there is  relatively low unemployment with 50 per cent of the working population commuting to jobs outside the area.  Vibrant SME and agriculture sectors help drive the local economy with 63 per cent of the population of working age.  Perhaps the biggest advantage Banbridge has is the quality of life.  In the 2008 Experian survey Banbridge came second of all areas in terms of quality of life. 
Priority projects

Building on our strengths we have set ourselves a bold and challenging plan to move the district forward.  We have just completed a 5 year multi million pound capital investment programme in all towns in the District.  Through our civic leadership role and the successful partnerships we have developed  we are embarking on a number of new priority projects to develop the District.

Bridgewater Park

Bridgewater Park is a private sector-led commercial and industrial park uniquely positioned on the Belfast-Dublin economic corridor.  This park has the potential to become a major economic driver in the region.  However, only the OUTLET retail centre has so far been developed within the park.

Banbridge Community Health Village

With the closure of Banbridge Hospital in 1996, we led the preparation of a master plan to redevelop the site.  The site will have a new doctors’ surgery, a polyclinic and housing provided by Oaklee and Fold housing associations.  The health trust is investing £17 million in a community treatment and day care centre.  With the addition of park land, the site will become a community health village to meet the health care needs of the district for decades to come.

Towns and villages

The district’s towns and villages are experiencing dereliction and vacancies due to the economic downturn and changing shopping trends.  We are taking an integrated approach in revitalising these centres. In Dromore we are working in partnership with the private sector to revitalise the town and in Gilford we are working with the voluntary and private sectors to improve shop fronts and provide a range of public services for our community centre as well as our leisure and community offering.

Rathfriland healthy living centre

This is a project we are assessing in partnership with the Southern Health and Social Care Trust to provide an integrated centre which has a doctors’ surgery, health centre, leisure and community centre and possibly a library.

Banbridge bus station

Banbridge is the only main hub in Northern Ireland without a bus station and the Council is delighted that within the past week Translink has announced that it is to provide a bus station in Banbridge town centre.  This is a project we have been working on since 2003 in partnership with Translink to draw down funding from various sources to ensure that the new bus station can make a major contribution to the town centre.  The Council has also provided assistance to Translink to make a case for this service provision within the town centre through lobbying and engaging with other public interests in the area.

Banbridge District Council
Civic Building, Downshire Road
Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 3JY
T: 028 4066 0600
E: info@banbridge.gov.uk
W: www.banbridge.gov.uk