Council invests £1.2m in new, revisedmarket scheme

The move was recommended to elected members by town development manager Hazel Bell, who told them they had to act immediately if they wished the “legacy” project to proceed in the lifetime of Larne Borough Council, ahead of RPA. An amended planning application was this week approved by County Hall.

An alternative funder - the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) - has undertaken to support a new scheme which focuses on business generation, along with “a public open space, open realm and multi-functional uses”.

Reporters were excluded from the discussion, during which Ms Bell’s recommendation was adopted and the council resolved to enter into a formal agreement with the regeneration company that was formed to implement the market yard scheme, which in the beginning included a budget hotel and social housing.

IFI withdrew funding when the council failed to secure additional grants to finance the hotel aspect of the proposals.

Now, the council is faced with borrowing 1.2 million to ensure the project progresses, in the hope that the burden on the rates will be reduced if a grant is obtained from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) in respect of the distinctive Belfast sheds at the yard, which are listed as historic buildings.

Minutes just published report that Ms Bell urged that “in order to ensure that this project progresses as a legacy for Larne, it is recommended that Council should manage and fund the project while seeking grant support from DETI and NIEA.

“The maximum Larne Borough Council loan funds required would be 1,200,000 which would be reduced if NIEA historic buildings grant is obtained.”

The town manager explained that officers had continued to lobby for IFI backing, but there was no guarantee of success and even if approved, IFI’s insistence on a 99-year lease would mean exclusion from the DETI programme.

Ms Bell told councillors the first phase of the DETI scheme could be on the ground in the next few months, but added that the project “was not restoration of the market yard as it stood, but the introduction of other businesses into it to breathe new life into the area”.

Ald Danny O’Connor voted against, citing concerns about the level of the council’s financial commitment.

Cllr Roy Craig said that in the absence of any IFI commitment he was “willing to work with the regeneration company to see if something could be done with the market yard, as it was in a tragic state,” the minutes reveal.

Cllr John Mathews agreed, saying that markets in other towns were thriving and were assets to their communities. He added that the officer’s recommendation “could be a very good investment”, given the market yard’s location, directly opposite a proposed major retail outlet on the Co-op site.