Ballycarry has highest coronary death rate

This startling revelation is just one of several local key issues highlighted in a draft Baseline Report carried out for Mid and East Antrim Council to inform the local authority’s first Community Plan.

Presented to the council’s community planning committee by a representative of RSM McClure Watters (consulting), it details key issues for each of the District Electorla Areas (DEAs) and ward levels against the six community planning themes of environment, safety and good relations, health, leisure and well being, community and social regeneration, education and 
economic regeneration.

An overview of the borough threw up some interesting “key issues” at ward level, such as Antiville having the highest concentration of deaths due to respiratory disease, while Love Lane had the lowest number of deaths due to cancers 
(malignant neoplasms).

On the community planning theme of environment, the report found that Mid and East Antrim was two per cent above the Northern Ireland average rate for retail vacancy of 19 per cent and 0.6 per cent below the NI average business start-up rate of seven per cent but identified Ballymena as having the potential to be “the retail capital of the North East”.

On the theme of safety and good relations, it emerged that Mid & East Antrim was below the NI average for criminal damage, burglary, theft, and anti-social behaviour and that drug offences per ward (4.55) were significantly below the Northern Ireland average (8.11). However, it was pointed out to the committee that the local ‘perceptions of crime don’t reflect the statistics’.

This was also the case, according to the report, with regard to perceptions of the suicide rate.

Councillors were informed that the council area was in the top quartile in relation to the lowest levels of deaths from suicide and that while there were an estimated 3,467 avoidable deaths within the area between 2001-2011, overall, Mid and East Antrim ranked fifth out of the 11 local authorities in terms of overall health performance.

With regard to education, Mid and East Antrim was found to be above the Northern Ireland average for working population with no qualifications at 30.41 per cent compared to 29.12 per cent (NI wide) but that good commuting links and the high concentration of professional level jobs attracted and retained a highly qualified workforce.

Turning to economic regeneration, the report found that job density in the borough was below the provincial average.

However, it also found that there was a high proportion of well paid semi-skilled entry level jobs in the manufacturing and transport sector but under representation in professional services, advanced manufacturing, agri food and tourism.

And it revealed that Mid and East Antrim has a higher than average business death rate of 9.75 per cent compared to Northern Ireland (9.4).

Emerging issues from the draft Baseline Report included a need to diversify the local economy by enhancing local clusters, encouraging business start ups and addressing the high business death rate, and promoting the wider tourism proposition of the area; a need to address negative perceptions of particular communities in the borough in relation to such issues as sectarianism; a need to ensure the rural perspective is considered in all policy decisions; targeted interventions to address the lifetime opportunities of the most vulnerable within society by addressing constraints affecting health and educational achievement; and, a focus on redeveloping town centres of key settlements as places not only to shop but also in which to work, play and live.

Councillors were told by their Director of Organisation Development and Community Planning, Karen Hargan, that it was “vital” that the local authority’s first Community Plan was developed using “robust evidence” and pointed out that the baseline report before them would be essential in assisting that process.

The committee went on to broadly welcome the report and agreed her recommendation that it be circulated to a wide range of stakeholders to gauge their opinions.