By Joe McCann
THE chairman of a working group set up to protect and enhance North Down Coastal Path has threatened to resign claiming the body has lost confidence in Ards and North Down Council.
Tensions which have been building for some time reached breaking point after workmen employed by the council to carry out maintenance work on a section of the path were accused of ‘obliterating’ the area.
Bangor Independent councillor Tom Brady, who is the chair of the North Down Coastal Path Working Group, has said he was ‘at a loss for words’ at what he claimed was a ‘heavy-handed approach’ and said he has considered resigning as chairman of the group.
However, the council has dismissed the claims that the maintenance work was heavy handed, branding it ‘best practice’ which would, in time, enhance the area.
The working group was set up in 2023 after the council was forced to back down from highly controversial plans to transform the coastal path into a four-metre wide greenway from Bangor to Holywood.
In a bid to repair divisions between the local authority and the community, the council decided to set up the working group ‘to address connectivity, access and maintenance’.
Mr Brady revealed the level of disquiet within the group during a meeting of the council’s Environment Committee when he showed pictures of the work carried out between Pickie and Swinley Bay.
He said: “The understanding of the instructions given by the Working Group for the kind of work that should be taking place was extremely light touch, only what is necessary and clearing the path back to its original boundaries.
“The path was cleared by about four metres on either side of it, which is not what was agreed by the Working Group. The feedback I’ve got is that the environment has been decimated. This goes far beyond that, I would say it’s been obliterated.”
He described the work as appearing ‘like a lazy, heavy-handed approach when that is not what was asked for’.
Speaking to the Spectator this week, a resident who lives in the area, who did not wish to be named, said when speaking with the contractor and asking what the instructions given were, was told ‘we were told to cut as much as we wanted.’
Expressing a loss of confidence from the group in the council, councillor Brady stated: “I’m at a loss for words. I was actually considering stepping down as chairman of the group, because I have no confidence in it and the public have no confidence in it.”
A council official told the meeting that while the work carried out was ‘considerable’ said it was ‘good horticultural practice’ and would encourage the vegetation to grow back strongly.
Responding to that Mr Brady said: “It’s like going into a barber’s and asking for a trim only for them to shave your head and tell you it will grow back better because of it.”
Ulster Unionist councillor Katherine Newman said she had been contacted by members of the group after the work had been carried out.
She asked about the tension between the group and the council but this was dismissed by an official. “I appreciate that it [the work] may upset some people, but I think down the line that it will be forgotten and that they will be happy enough. I have to say I don’t see any tension.”
