A row over whether a pipe band championship should be held in Newtownards or Bangor has been settled thanks to an agreement on rotating venues.
Last October, an argument over a venue for the County Down Pipe Band Championship split the DUP and Ards and North Down Council down the middle, while again exposing the age-old rivalry between Newtownards and the newly classified City of Bangor.
At that meeting, aggrieved DUP Newtownards councillors were involved in rancorous exchanges with their own party colleagues who represent Bangor district electoral areas.
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The Newtownards representatives voted against a proposal to invite the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association of Northern Ireland to address councillors on their preferences for a venue, stating it was an attempt to row back on an agreement made before coronavirus to rotate the championship venue on alternate years between Newtownards and Bangor. The proposal was passed, as councillors were split geographically between choosing Bangor as a permanent venue or a rotational system between Bangor and Newtownards.
However the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association of Northern Ireland refused to become embroiled in the council spat, and wrote to the council: “Your deputation request inviting the RSPBANI to your January meeting is unnecessary, as we do not have a preferred location, and in previous years the council has worked with us very successfully in both venues, on any matters including toilets, marketing, seating car parking etc.”
The RSPBANI added: “The decision must be taken by the council, to offer us a bid including a venue and services. We are reluctant to get involved in any debate between elected members of Newtownards and Bangor, as we are a governing body who delivers pipe band competitions in Northern Ireland and we wish to stay neutral on this outcome.”
At this week’s meeting of Ards and North Down Council’s Place and Prosperity Committee, elected members were given three options, choosing Castle Park or Ward Park in Bangor as a permanent venue of the annual event, choosing Newtownards Airfield in Newtownards as a permanent venue of the annual event, or rotating the event event year by year, with the competition to be held in Newtownards this year, and in Bangor next year.
The committee chose unanimously, across all parties and independents, for option three, to rotate between Newtownards and Bangor, subject to annual negotiations with the Ulster Flying Club. This will go to the full council for ratification later this month.
DUP Councillor Robert Adair for Ards Peninsula told the chamber: “It’s a new year and let’s move forward as one borough. We need to get over this Ards and North Down divide, the public out there have gotten over it, so we as elected members need to as well.
“Let’s build each other up rather than tear each other down, put our best foot forward and do the best for our ratepayers. It is great that Bangor was awarded city status last year, and Newtownards has won so many awards as one of the best shopping towns in Northern Ireland. We have a great borough.”
The championship was cancelled in 2020, and in 2021 the council agreed it should be held with limited spectators in September in the McKee Clock Arena in Bangor. It returned to its full capacity last year in Ward park, Bangor.
The last time it was held in Newtownards was 2019. Attendance figures in 2019 and 2022 were around 5,000, with visitor spend in Newtownards £119,000, against £83,162 in Bangor.
The event is owned and organised by the RSPBANI, but the council bids and pays for the event to be held in the borough. The fee in 2019 and 2022 to the ratepayer was £14,000 for the bid.
The total cost to the council for the 2019 Newtownards event was £29,967, while the total cost to the council for the 2022 Bangor event was £15,363.
This year’s event in Newtownards will cost the council £26,500.
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