By Julie Waters
BANGOR will be tuning up to the sounds of pipe bands and Irish traditional music after plans for two major events on the same day were approved.
Ards and North Down Council has backed the decision to host the 73rd Ulster Pipe Band Championship and a Fleadh Fringe event on Saturday, August 1st.
Ards Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCÉ) is the host branch for the All Ireland Fleadh which will be held in Belfast, in August. It is expected that around 5,000 people will attend Bangor’s Fringe Fleadh event.
Councillors have further rubber stamped a budget of £40,000 to be allocated to the Fleadh Fringe at Holborn Square car park and £36,700 for the Ulster Championship Pipe Band event at Ward Park.
The proposal to host the two events on the same day had sparked controversy after unionist councillors deferred approval, asking if a separate date for the Fleadh Fringe event could be found.
Council officers had examined the proposal and reported back that an alternative date was not available and the Fleadh Fringe was likely to be cancelled if it could not go ahead on August 1st.
As a result of that report, councillors last week gave overwhelming backing for both events to take place on August 1st. However, a DUP amendment, which sought a review of the council’s events strategy was also backed.
Only two Independent Unionists, Councillor Steven Irvine and Councillor Wesley Irvine voted against the amendment.
During the debate, Alliance Party councillor Chris McCracken dismissed the concerns about costs, council process and value for money previously raised by the DUP saying, ‘none of these concerns stack up’.
The Bangor Central councillor said: “A costed report was brought to the Place and Prosperity Committee where a detailed debate was held, and all the issues that I have just mentioned were discussed.
“The report was subsequently approved by an overwhelming majority. There was no reason for the DUP to send it back for further consideration, as due consideration had already been given. It is therefore no surprise that this report comes back to council tonight confirming everything we already knew.
“The date is the best date, the location is the best location, the budget is the most appropriate budget, the opportunity to deliver a positive social and economic return for the people of Bangor remains the same, the generosity of the two groups involved is still there to create a wonderful musical collaboration that is greater than the sum of its parts.”
Mr McCracken said the Fleadh Fringe event would link the borough to the ‘largest music festival on the island that will attract up to one million people into the region’.
Mr McCracken said that ‘Bangor is a city and needs to think and act as a city’ and ‘most cities have multiple events running side by side without any conflict’.
However, DUP councillor Alistair Cathcart brought forward the amendment, tasking officers to set up a working group to review the council’s events strategy, to determine ‘whether it is delivering on its stated aims’.
Officers will further assess if the council is ‘adequately supporting volunteer-led events, how communication with members is improved around the delivery of events and to bring back recommendations for consideration’.
The Bangor Central councillor said his party had raised concerns about whether council process had been followed and how the Fleadh Fringe event had been brought before the council.
He said the council did not have concerns about the event ‘despite attempts across the chamber to mislead’. Saying he was ‘looking forward’ to the event, he said the latest council report was still ‘vague’ about how much the event would cost and ‘how this operation will work’.
Mr Cathcart also raised concerns about volunteer-led events that did not receive council funding and ‘how money has been found to be given to an unknown entity who is going to run the Fringe event’.
He also claimed Bangor Chamber of Commerce is ‘not happy about how events are run’, highlighting concerns about the council’s Christmas events, and stating ‘earlier engagement’ about the Fleadh Fringe ‘would have been better’.
Alliance Party alderman Martin McRandal welcomed the agreed way forward.
“I think it is good that after four meetings a Unionist has made a proposal to see this even go ahead. Although it smacks of face-saving, I will support it so we can go ahead.”
