By Sarah Curran
A COMMUNITY group has blamed Ards and North Down Council’s funding structure for the cancellation of a much-loved family event.
Clandeboye Village Community Association (CVCA) has officially axed its May Day Family Festival, planned for May 25, citing the ‘inequity and ongoing dysfunction’ within the council’s funding structure as the cause.
Aaron McMahon, chairman of CVCA, said the decision was not taken lightly, adding they were only offered a ‘fraction’ of what they required to deliver their event.
The group had applied to the council’s Community Festival budget back in March, requesting £4,000 for the running of their free family event, which was set to boast bouncy castles, pony rides, a wild birds of prey show, free lunch for attendees and much more.
However following recent correspondence from council, the group discovered they were being offered £2,400, with only £1,600 of that funding being secured – the rest of the funding is to be allocated by the Department for Communities (DfC).
But, with no indication of when or how much money will be granted to the council from DfC until well after the planned event, CVCA felt they had no other option but to scrap the event.
Speaking about the decision, Aaron noted that planning these events ‘did not happen overnight’ and took a lot of work and effort to plan and budget for.
“This was a golden opportunity for people to come to an event and not have to worry if they could afford it,” Aaron said, noting that it was much more than just a day out – it was offering families a chance to create memories and enjoy experiences together.
Louise Spence, the manager of North Down Community Network (NDCN), added that with the cost of living rising, the event was a chance to offer the community something uplifting.
She said: “A lot of people take for granted that on a May Day they can travel somewhere and then go buy food out and while on the one hand you want to be able to support the local economy, for a lot of people that is just not viable. So having a fun day like this really brings people together.”
Aaron added: “This was meant to be one of those events a family could bring their kids to and not have to worry about if they could afford their oil the next week or top up their gas.”
Aaron continued, that there was a ‘stark imbalance’ in how funding was distributed, something he has remarked on before.
He explained that while CVCA struggled to secure a single ‘modest’ grant for an event which would benefit over 500 people, other local groups which had applied for the same festival pot had secured multiple grants.
He explained how five separate groups in Portaferry were able to access funding from the same Community Festival budget.
Aaron and Louise stressed that the Portaferry groups had ‘not done anything wrong’ in successfully applying for funding, however highlighted that branching off their own group into separate groups in order to apply for more pots of funding would not work for them.
Louise said that creating separate organisations for the sake of chasing funding would be ‘contriving’, adding they would have to also uphold active trustees and annual returns – creating more work for community volunteers.
She added that places like Portaferry were culturally in a better position to have separate entities to run ‘very valid and legitimate organisations’.
Aaron added that in ‘slicing up’ their organisation, they would only be adding to the problem by ‘diluting the pot’ further.
Ashleigh Hunter, Outreach Community Development Worker for NDCN, noted that groups are ‘not guaranteed the funding when you apply’, however Aaron argued that despite meeting the criteria, they were not getting ‘anywhere close’ to the budget required.
Aaron continued that residents in Portaferry would have the chance to attend several ‘valuable’ events, while in Clandeboye their potential one event was now cancelled because ‘council had completely screwed it up’.
Aaron stated that Clandeboye councillors needed to ‘do better’.
“The rates that an area like this accumulates compared to smaller areas are not reflected in the funding,” he said. “Council charge rates per household, but they allocate funding per group.”
Aaron said he felt the people of Clandeboye were being treated as an ‘afterthought’ and deserved better, with Louise stating that there was also a lack of government investment in areas of need such as Clandeboye.
Referencing the ongoing recent spate of antisocial behaviour, the trio hammered that this event was set up to bring together the community in a safe environment.
“That’s what this day was about. It was about connecting all generations to the place and the people around them to build a sense of community, investment and morale, and to help people understand there is great value in taking care of each other,” Louise said.
Aaron concluded: “There is no money in fixing Northern Ireland. There is only money in keeping it broken.”
