A plan to not use European cross-community funding for a joint rugby and GAA programme in Holywood has caused a stir in a local council.
Unionist parties came up against Alliance, Greens and the SDLP in a decision over where to spend £1.8 million of PeacePlus money, at Ards and North Down Borough Council.
PeacePlus is a cross-border funding programme created to strengthen peace and prosperity within Northern Ireland and border counties in the Republic.
The Alliance led group questioned the dismissal by unionists for a plan for a new shared training pitch to be used by Holywood Rugby Football Club and St Paul’s GAA club.
Unionist parties and independents, led by the DUP, went for a mixture of options involving funding for a new Donaghadee Pump Track, Bangor Cycle Park and improving Portaferry parklands.
That had been agreed at committee level last month.
At the most recent full council meeting, Alliance questioned the choice.
Alderman Martin McRandal proposed a special meeting for members to consider more fully which capital project or projects should be included.
“There (have been) attempts to write off the Holywood project as not meeting PeacePlus criteria,” he said.
“In relation to PeacePlus criteria, I would remind members that the Holywood project scored significantly higher than any of the other three projects.”
DUP Alderman Robert Adair said one of the priorities of his party was to ensure funding was protected for communities in Ards and North Down, “and this dither, delay and faffing about is putting that at risk”.
“The Holywood Shared Project is a very good project, has a lot of merit, but it does not meet the PeacePlus criteria because it cannot meet the participation levels laid down by (Special EU Programmes Body) SEUPB.
“Secondly, financially, it doesn’t stack up either. If we go for this offer the council will have to put up £200,000 at least. We haven’t budgeted for that, and we already have a stretched capital budget. It will put other projects further down the list.”