Resident queries sum spent in Larne from sale of council offices
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has been questioned about its expenditure in the Larne area.
The question was one of 15 received from the public by the local authority and addressed at a full meeting in The Braid, Ballymena, last week.
William McNeill, who submitted the query in advance of the meeting, asked: “How much of the money from the sale of the former council offices in Larne is going on projects in the Larne area and not directly to other constituencies of the borough?”
Smiley Buildings, the council’s former civic headquarters in Larne, which has been sold, was on the market for £350k. Councillors agreed to the sale of the property at Victoria Road during an asset review after being reminded of the “severity” of the local authority’s financial situation when it had a shortfall of £7.2m in its budget.
The local authority has been selling a number of assets and was seeking to address, what was described at the time, as its “strained financial position”.
Three rural sites in the Larne area were for sale at Old Glenarm Road, Brustin Brae Road/Ballytober Road and Brustin Brae Road/Old Glenarm Road. The site at Brustin Brae Road/Old Glenarm Road was the largest at 72 acres. Overall, the “prime agricultural land”, on the market for £1,125,000, amounted to a total of 115 acres.
In reply to Mr McNeill’s query, Mid and East Antrim Borough Council stated the sale of any council asset “must be used for capital purposes”.
“Council is currently progressing a number of capital projects that will benefit the Larne ratepayers,” the response said. “Carnfunnock at an overall cost of circa £8.9m with a cost to council of circa £2.2m, Larne Cemetery at a cost of circa £2.8m.
“Recently, there has been work completed on a new play park at Bardic Drive at a cost of circa £180k; an upgrade to Larne Town Park MUGA (multi-use games area), at a cost of circa £226k and provision of a skate park at Larne Town Park, at a cost of circa £220k.”
In June, a newly refurbished play park re-opened at Bardic Drive, in Larne’s Antiville estate in memory of eight-year-old Scarlett Rossborough. Scarlett died in a single-vehicle traffic collision in Carrickfergus town centre in August 2023.
The playground was originally one of a number in Mid and East Antrim which had been earmarked for closure by the council due to maintenance costs.
Michelle Weir, Local Democracy Reporter