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LATEST
NEWS
RECENT
EVENTS
Jenny
Bristow and North Antrim Leader got together to highlight
the wealth of local food in the area and how local catering
establishments can benefit from its use.
NAL+
along with the Ballymoney, Ballymena, Larne and Moyle
Councils ran a local food event with Jenny Bristow,
our very own local celebrity chef and food expert on
2nd April in Tullyglass House Hotel.
Working
under the inspirational enthusiasm and guidance of Andrew
Mc Allister and his team at North Antrim Leader it was
a celebration of inspiration both through many of our
local companies here today and a very passionate group
of people under the Ambassador Programme at Jenny Bristow.com
to develop and reap rewards for local good food suppliers.
Jenny
was delighted to have created a Master Class around
the following suppliers with specific recipes written
especially to develop and to promote their produce.
Damien Mc Closkey of Causeway Cheese.
Ivan Mc Mullan of Glen Tender Ltd and their wide variety
of meat produce.
Virginia Maxwell and her selection of chutneys –
an area of food that is growing rapidly in appeal and
use.
Hugh Reid from Dundermot Farm House Ice-Cream at Glarryford
with a very popular range of ice-creams and sorbets.
Hugh
and Clare Anderson from Gracehill Fine Foods for their
black and white pudding.
John McDowell of Bush Valley Fresh Produce for their
local vegetable supply and meeting the consumers convenience
market.
Niall Delargy of Ballyeamon eggs for their supply of
eggs including free range and which I used in a variety
of new inspirational ways which captured the inspiration
of not only our local suppliers, catering establishments,
outlets, tourism awareness but also to help each individual
company to have a new and invigorated enthusiasm in
their produce realising that there is the good food
of our future to be used and enjoyed.
All
the recipes can be downloaded from www.jennybristow.com
website
The
outline below is a summary of the success of North Antrim
Leader and identifies issues for the new programme.
NORTH
ANTRIM LEADER+ - A SUCCESS STORY
There
is a wealth of experience of Leader and the rural development
process in this area from the very start of the Leader
and rural Development Programme in 1991. An initial
project was set up in 1992 with the Antrim Glens Cottages
Programme which involved self-catering properties and
which is still operational today by our partners in
North Antrim Community Network (NACN). North Antrim
Leader Ltd was set up in 1995 as part of the Leader
II Programme with the Lower Bann Leader area setting
up an equivalent organisation up 2 years later (these
two organisations merged to form North Antrim Leader+
Ltd (NAL+) in 2001) Leader II was a much more wide ranging
programme covering agriculture, tourism, community development,
small business and co-operation projects. All four of
the present NAL+ Councils were involved in this programme.
Over £1m in grant-aid was allocated to a wide range
of projects and Leader II was seen by the EU as one
of the top three Leader programmes in Europe
.
Leader
II then evolved into the present Leader+ programme which
is a partnership between the four Councils of Ballymena,
Ballymoney, Larne, Moyle and NACN. This commenced in
May 2002 (late, which caused issues concerning spend
– the infamous N+2 issue) and is due to finish in May
2008. This programme is very focussed on support for
small local businesses – an unusual focus at EU level
which in virtually all other countries was a much wider
initiative, similar to the Leader II programme. Indeed
this wide approach showed how Leader was the most effective
method to deliver rural Development programmes throughout
Europe
in terms of outputs. Despite this narrowness of the
NI programme its success demonstrated the flexibility
of the Leader approach with the following outputs being
achieved to date
165 job created
412 businesses assisted
£2.4m spend and lever
in further £3.8m (total of over £6.2m)
It
also succeeded on other levels, especially in the areas
of networking, co-operation and as a vehicle for delivery
other funds to North
Antrim .
Networking
NAL+
could have simply taken its role as a rural business
support agency and operated this programme without reference
to other organisations in the sector and area. However
NAL+ quickly identified that one of the strengths of
Leader is its facility for networking. NAL+ thus has
worked with all the agencies which operate in the small
business area – LEA’s, Invest NI, local council’s economic
development departments and many others such as private
companies like Michelin Development. We also participated
in meetings, seminars etc with any organisation which
was working in North
Antrim to maximise
the input of our strategy and the other relevant strategies
in the area.
Our
community partner NACN, also ensured that even if our
focus was not particularly relevant to the community
sector, we were aware of the issues.
This
networking facility will enable any new LAG to have
a model of the importance and relevance of good networking.
Co-operation
This
has always been identified as an integral part of Leader,
whereby new ideas and best practice could be drawn together
from all over Europe
. Again NAL+ has
been to the forefront of this process with more projects
(7 in all) that any other NI group covering the following
areas.
Woolcraft
– use of
sheep products especially wool
Farmers
Markets
– operating in Ballymoney
Women
into Enterprise
– helping
female entrepreneurs
Food
& Cultural Tourism
– highlighting local food and culture
Biker
Tourism
– encouraging bikers to visit area
Cutting
costs/reducing risks
– helping Health and Safety in small businesses
Enterprise
International
– helping small rural businesses to identify potential
for export
We
are also the only group to work outside UK
and Ireland
on transnational
projects. Overall this meant NAL+ drew in an extra £220,000
in funding, again significantly more than other areas.
Co-operation
will again be a vital part of the next programme and
the NAL+ experience gives a good model. There is also
a wealth of contacts made with good relationships with
14 other LAG’s in the UK
, ROI and Europe
in addition to the
other 11 NI LAGS. All of these groups without exception
would like to further develop linkages. Indeed some
groups (our Scottish neighbours – Dumfries & Galloway
and Argyll and the Islands
are examples) have
already formally named North
Antrim as an area
with which they wish to co-operate in the next round
of rural development programmes.
Funding
vehicle
Again
this is an area where NAL+ has been innovative and successful.
We set up a joint company (Imeall Tra Teo or Edge of
the Shore Ltd) with the West Donegal Leader Group and
this has drawn down over £1.8m to both areas with a
range of funds being involved (Peace II, Interreg, Department
of Foreign Affairs and others. The Northern Ireland
Leader Groups also deliver a Farm diversification measure
through BSP. This is worth approximately £120,000 to
our area.
This
flexibility has been possible because of the independent
company status of NAL+. Again there is a lesson to be
taken on board about making any delivery structure flexible
enough to identify other funding sources and deliver
them in a co-ordinated and integrated way
NAL+
has also linked the agricultural and rural development
sectors with all of the staff and many of the directors
coming from farming backgrounds. It is important that
a rural programme is implemented that is inclusive and
that the farming and others parts of the rural community
work together. NAL+ is one of the few organisations
that have successfully linked these sectors (e.g. over
55% of our grants were allocated to farmers or farm
families). Leader also provides a mechanism which could
help deliver large parts of Axis 1 – farm competiveness
and even carry out programmes in Axis 2 (environmental
sustainability).
It
is also worth mentioning that The NI approach to Rural
Development and the Leader delivery system is at variance
with nearly every other EU state. EU legislation states
(Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005) LAGs “must consist
of either a group already qualified for. Leader+ or
be a new group…..”). In NI we have insisted on a completely
new system.
Future
Rural Development Delivery and Funding
The
new NIRDP offers an opportunity for an integrated, customer
focussed, inclusive and democratic approach. The move
to involve the Councils to a much greater extent is
to be welcomed as is the wide focus and increased budget.
This fresh approach will be enhanced if it is implemented
using the existing experience and lessons learned by
existing Leader and other rural development bodies.
If
we disband all the existing organisations and start
completely from scratch we will lose this experience
and will expend considerable energy developing new structures,
new procedures and new funding mechanisms. The LAG structure
is now a proven method of delivering rural development
programmes – this is the reason Europe
is putting it forward
as the principal approach to rural delivery. It is vital
that this new LAG is a strong and effective body which
can work at a strategic level throughout the area. It
needs to have a range of people both experienced in
the process as well as new members to add freshness
and vitality. This new LAG must also be involved in
the initial consultation and formative stages of the
programme as any partnership such as a LAG must involve
all its partners at every stage.
I
would argue that the basis for the new LAG should include:
- North Antrim Community
Network-which is already a partner within NAL+ and
which covers the same council areas and the Oakleaf
Rural Network.
- Causeway
Coast
and Heritage Trust-which
also includes a further 4 council areas
- The Farming organisations-UFU
and NIAPA.
- New players and organisations
esp. those involving young people
- Section 75 must be considered
when setting up the LAG
In
addition there are a range of bodies which also have
a lesser involvement such as LEAs, Regional Tourism
Partnership Community Transport and the RDC and RCN
which operate rural programmes presently at NI level.
These
partners would ensure the process could be delivered
quickly and could help integrate the new members into
the system. It requires a long time to build a LAG from
scratch – this has been evident from the accession countries
where it has taken up to 3 years for LAG’s to get to
the point where they are effective programme delivers.
Obviously
DARD has allocated a substantial sum to the Councils
to help construct and animate a strategy. There is a
considerable number of experienced staff in both councils
and other rural organisations which could add real value
to these vital initial stages and who have the local
knowledge of the area and the other relevant strategies
which could inform new rural policy.
It
is important to note that both the EU and DARD require
the delivery model to be based on the Leader methodology,
NAL+ (which covers four council areas) and COLLAGE (Coleraine
area) are the only organisations that have operated
this model over the last 10 years and who have detailed
knowledge of its criteria and how to make it work.
The
Leader principles as outlined by EU legislation must
be the basis on which any new programme will be based
- Area
based
- Public-private
partnerships(at least 50% not statutory)
- bottom
up-with decision making power for LAG
- multi-sectoral
- innovation
- co-operation
projects
- networking
of local partnerships
NAL+
has delivered directly in several of the proposed measures
within Axis3-indeed these are the measures with the
largest percentage of the budget.
- Farm diversification
- Micro business
- Rural Tourism
In
addition through our Imeall Tra partner we have been
involved with Peace, Interreg and other funds which
have been heavily slanted towards the tourism and heritage
sectors. Our partners in Leader-North Antrim Community
Network (NACN) have also extensive delivery experience
in the Village Renewal and Basic Services areas.
Our
case is thus not that NAL+, any other Leader Group or
NACN should be the sole deliverers of the new RDP but
that they could and should form a key part of the new
Rural Development delivery system. Once again I would
stress that our aim is to ensure that the best approach
for the area is adopted and whilst it is important to
take the opportunity to have a more integrated, democratic
and inclusive process and to have a fresh approach to
rural development, we must not simply start from scratch
again which means we repeat the same mistakes as the
previous rounds of the RDP.
This
strong coalition between Councils, rural organisations
and the rural community should lead to a system which
will focus on the customer and not on the process, which
has unfortunately been too often the case in the past.
There is a real opportunity to have a responsive rural
programme benefiting all parts of the rural community.
Programme
Operation
At
the close of the programme we had received and processed
the following breakdown of applications and issued Letters
of Offer.
| Council
Area |
Preliminary
Interest Forms |
Full
Applications |
Letters
of Offer |
| Moyle |
102 |
95 |
56 |
| Larne |
75 |
60 |
35 |
| Ballymoney |
73 |
60 |
34 |
| Ballymena |
81 |
57 |
|
| General |
|
17 |
13 |
| Total |
331 |
279 |
174 |
Businesses
Grant aided To Date
A
list of businesses funded to date by North Antrim Leader+has
been given and their respective Council areas and type
of business/service which they provide.
This
breakdown of the individuals and companies assisted
proves just how even the spread of money was throughout
the North Antrim region, with each of the four Councils
receiving a fair share.
LARNE
COUNCIL AREA |
|
|
Measure
|
Project
|
Awarded
|
NKNT
Business |
Lismoyle
Engineering |
£10,000.00
|
|
Kenny
Craig Welding |
£6,650.00
|
|
Barbara
McCluskey |
£7,500.00
|
|
Andy
Magee |
£7,800.00
|
|
Larne
Lough Nurseries |
£10,000.00
|
|
Steensons
|
£10,000.00
|
|
GW
Irvine |
£3,425.00
|
|
William
Hawkins |
£10,000.00
|
|
Inspecvision
|
£20,000.00
|
|
Larne
Lough Nurseries |
£9,900.00
|
|
Rainbow
Nursery |
£6,359.00
|
|
Maurice
McIlroy |
£10,000.00
|
|
Bali-
Hai Nursery |
£2,000.00
|
|
Blindtec
|
£5,055.00
|
|
Kevin
Woodside |
£16,000.00
|
|
Maureen
Paterson |
£3,838.00
|
|
Gladys
Smyth |
£11,508.00
|
|
Terry
Maguire |
£40,000.00
|
|
Patrick
Woodwide |
£10,600.00
|
|
The
Steensons |
£8,926.40
|
|
Fiona
Kerr |
£1,600.00
|
|
Andy
Magee |
£16,660.80
|
| |
Maurice
McIlroy |
£12,560 |
| |
Margaret
Matthews |
£16,000 |
| |
Alex
McAuley |
£10,034 |
TCD02
|
David
Cooke |
£30,000.00
|
TCD03
|
Billy
Andys |
£11,392.50
|
FARM
DIV |
Edwin
Crawford |
£24,750.00
|
MOYLE
COUNCIL AREA |
|
|
Measure
|
Project
|
Awarded
|
NKNT
Business |
Liam
McGarry |
£10,000.00
|
|
Ardclinis
|
£7,500.00
|
|
Glenview
Foods |
£10,000.00
|
|
Bailey
Waste |
£10,000.00
|
|
Alex
McMullan |
£10,000.00
|
|
Causeway
Machinery |
£10,000.00
|
|
Bonamargy
Chocolates |
£5,255.00
|
|
Warehouse
Fitness |
£10,000.00
|
|
AW
Solutions |
£6,900.00
|
|
Damien
McFaul |
£10,000.00
|
|
JL
Laundry |
£7,000.00
|
|
James
McGowan |
£9,493.00
|
|
Gerard
McFall |
£10,000.00
|
|
Daniel
McVicker |
£13,118.00
|
|
Peter
Dallat |
£10,000.00
|
|
Breege
McAuley |
£11,181.25
|
|
Eddie
Ferguson |
£7,800.00
|
|
Anthony
Devlin |
£7,500.00
|
|
Hugh
Henderson |
£9,750.00
|
|
Genevieve
McLernon |
£12,790.00
|
|
Kathleen
McNeill |
£9,550.00
|
|
Grace
McMullan |
£2,555.63
|
|
Alex
McMullan |
£11,496.00
|
| |
Mary
McKillop |
£4,339 |
| |
Owen
Fyfe |
£8,000 |
| |
William
McCurdy |
£2,600 |
NKNT
Technology |
Daniel
McVicker |
£10,000.00
|
|
Brian
Connolly |
£2,606.41
|
|
Causeway
Joinery |
£3,000.00
|
|
Jane
Kane |
£2,850.00
|
|
Anne
McNeill |
£2,000.00
|
NKNT
FOOD |
Shauna
McFall |
£1,700.00
|
|
Maud
Laverty |
£9,669.00
|
FARM
DIV |
Martha
McCurry |
£23,653.12
|
|
Gerard
Scally |
£39,000.00
|
|
Alan
Laverty |
£39,000.00
|
|
Nan
Wilkinson |
£10,596.88
|
TCD
02 |
Hamish
Currie |
£937.50
|
|
Tulla
Crafts |
£2,796.12
|
|
Brian
Connolly |
£10,000.00
|
|
Paul
McAuley |
£4,513.13
|
|
Mark
Stafford |
£10,000.00
|
|
Chris
Wilson |
£2,393.50
|
|
Hamish
Currie |
£1,710.00
|
|
Patsy
McBride |
£9,930.00
|
|
Richard
Lafferty |
£21,677.80
|
|
Sean
McBride |
£10,000.00
|
|
Mary
Farrell |
£9,275.00
|
TCD
03 |
McCollams
|
£12,500.00
|
BALLYMONEY
COUNCIL AREA |
|
|
Measure
|
Project
|
Awarded
|
NKNT
Business |
Pets
Paradise |
£10,000.00
|
|
Kingfisher
Designs |
£10,000.00
|
|
Garryduff
|
£5,000.00
|
|
Waste
Not |
£10,000.00
|
|
Charlie
O'Hagan |
£10,000.00
|
|
A
& R Taggart |
£10,000.00
|
|
James
Gaston |
£5,000.00
|
|
Maine
Engineering |
£20,000.00
|
|
Causeway
Pallets |
£10,000.00
|
|
SJH
Cleaning Services |
£4,150.00
|
|
Mark
Dunlop |
£10,605.00
|
|
Robin
Marrs |
£24,058.00
|
|
Robert
Taggart |
£20,000.00
|
|
Brendan
Cochrane |
£8,120.00
|
|
Brian
McLernon |
£30,000.00
|
|
Stephen
Cunning |
£30,000.00
|
|
|
Eugene
Dixon |
£40,000.00
|
| |
Basil
Haslett |
£11,400 |
| |
Nigel
Kirpatrick |
£9,420 |
| |
Nigel
McLester |
£315.01 |
NKNT Technology
|
A
& P McGregor |
£7,500.00
|
|
Waste
Not e-commerce |
£3,000.00
|
|
Wm
Loughridge |
£1,825.00
|
|
A&
P McGregor |
£3,496.50
|
NKNT FOOD |
D
McCloskey |
£6,995.00
|
|
John
McDowell |
£20,312.00
|
TCD01
|
Louise
Foster |
£15,000.00
|
TCD03 |
Patrick
McCann's |
£12,500.00
|
|
Glenbush
|
£12,500.00
|
TCD
02 |
Tommy
Louden |
£10,000.00
|
|
David
King |
£1,110.66
|
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