£2.61million of funding to allocate to rural Antrim

The sessions will help to determine how funding should be allocated through the Northern Ireland Rural Development Programme in the rural areas of Antrim and Newtownabbey up to 2020.

The funding, which comes from the European Union and Department of Agriculture & Rural Development, can be allocated across 5 themes – Business Investment, Basic Services, Village Renewal, Rural Broadband and Cooperation.

Chair of GROW South Antrim, Councillor Vera McWilliam comments “Community consultation is a vital part of developing the strategy, so we urge local people to come along and share their views on the needs and priorities of our rural areas and help shape how the funding is allocated.”

Consultation sessions will take place on October 22 at 7.30pm in Toome House and November 5 at 10am at Antrim Civic Centre.

For further information and to register for the event, contact the GROW team on 028 9448 1311.