North Down and Ards District Council has approved the decision of Ards Borough Council to accept NI Executive funding from Stormont for the beleaguerred Exploris aquarium in Portaferry.
The NI Executive’s offer of £914,000 capital funding and up to £120K annual revenue funding for the Exploris Aquarium in Portaferry is now secured.
This approval, which was necessary to allow Ards Borough Council to officially accept the Executive’s funding offer, was based on assurance from the Department of Environment (DOE) that capital funding not spent this financial year will be amongst the Minister’s top priorities to be met from next year’s Departmental budget.
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The Exploris Aquarium in Portaferry has had a major windfall from the NI Executive offering it a new lease of life. [/caption]
A programme of work to reinvigorate the facility will now begin. Presiding Councillor of North Down and Ards District Council, Councillor Alan Graham, said: “I welcome the plans to develop and relaunch the Exploris facility while reducing the financial burden on the ratepayer, especially as the new District Council will have responsibility for the facility from April 2015.”
“A rejuvenated Exploris will provide an attractive, informative, fun, and sustainable visitor attraction for the Ards and North Down area and I would encourage all who have joined the campaign to save the Aquarium to continue to support it by visiting, and encouraging others to visit, the facility when it re-opens.”
Since September last year, Ards Borough Council has delayed its decision to close the aquarium to give the Executive time to make firm offers of a funding package, to include revenue for the Seal Sanctuary from the Department of the Environment, together with a substantial one-off capital grant of approximately £900,000.
As outlined in a business case prepared by Ards Borough Council and submitted to the Executive by the Department of Environment this funding will make the facility a sustainable operation, reducing its running costs from around £500,000 each year to approximately £200,000.
Crucial to the plan’s successful implementation are working in partnership with other interested parties and the adoption of commercial management practices to include a more flexible business model.
Ards Borough Council has owned and operated the aquarium since 1987. It began life as the Northern Ireland Aquarium to showcase the diverse marine life that exists around Strangford Lough and the Irish Sea. The Council extended and re-opened the aquarium, known as Exploris, in 1994. Prince Charles performed the opening ceremony. The Seal Sanctuary, which provides for the rescue and rehabilitation of sick, orphaned and injured seal pups, was opened in 1999. Since 1992, the Council has invested £10.8M (net).
Exploris currently employs 18 permanent staff, equating to approximately 15 Full-Time Equivalents and a number of casual workers and many will now be relieved at the NI Executive decision to give Exploris a new lease of life.
The Decision Timeline To Date:
* In September 2013, Ards Borough Council agreed that a decision to close Exploris would be stayed for two months, to allow for firm proposals for alternative funding to come from central government departments – Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL), Environment (DoE) and Education (DE). This followed news that the company which was to manage the facility, Livingstone Leisure, withdrew from the process, after confirming that, under the rules which apply in Northern Ireland, it was unable to put in place the broadly comparable pension scheme required for existing staff.
* In November 2013, in light of the potential funding from Central Government – the Environment Minister had offered a one-off grant to upgrade the facility, subject to an appropriate business plan, and had also made a commitment to fund the seal sanctuary – Ards Borough Council agreed to extend the stay of execution on the decision about Exploris to the end of January 2014 to allow officers to produce a business plan.
* In January 2014, Ards Borough Council agreed a business plan to keep Exploris open, subject to confirmation of funding from the NI Executive.
* In February 2014, Environment Minister, stated that he was unable to make any firm offer of funding in time for the Ards Borough Council’s February meeting, as the Council’s business case had not yet been approved by his Department’s economist, and that approval was now also required from the Department for Finance and Personnel (DFP). The Minister also asked that the North Down and Ards Statutory Transition Committee approve the business case before he took a final case before the Executive in March. This was subsequently approved.
* In March 2014 Ards Borough Council agreed to extend the stay on closure for a further 2 months, expressing disappointment and concern that no financial package had been forthcoming from the Executive, after the Council submitted its business case.
* In May 2014 Ards Borough Council agreed to commence a formal consultation process and equality impact assessment on the potential closure of the facility. In making its decision Ards Borough Council called on the Department of Environment Minister and the wider Executive to formally respond to its bid for financial support.
* In August 2014 Ards Borough Council agreed, in principle, to accept the NI Executive’s offer of £914K capital funding and up to £120K revenue funding, for the Exploris Aquarium in Portaferry. This agreement was subject to receiving detailed terms and conditions from the Department of the Environment to allow the Council to re-invigorate the facility, and upon gaining the necessary approval from the North Down and Ards District Council.
* In September 2014, Ards Borough Council agreed to accept the NI Executive’s offer of £914K capital funding and up to £120K annual revenue funding for the Exploris Aquarium in Portaferry. This decision is conditional upon gaining the necessary approval from the North Down and Ards District Council.
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