Exploris Trust and Ards Council Working Together For The Future Of The Aquarium

Three of the Directors of Friends of Exploris Trust xa0have met with Officersxa0of Ards Borough Council in Exploris on Wednesday 12 March.

A spokesperson for the xa0Trust said: “Thexa0Officers outlined the work that has been done with the business planxa0for Exploris since the last Council meeting in February. The plan hadxa0been presented to and approved by the Statutory Transitional Council.xa0Council Officers had met with officials of the Department of thexa0Environment the previous week and had been asked to make furtherxa0amendments.

“The business plan was returned to DOE on Monday 10 March andxa0by Tuesday afternoon a list of further amendments to be made had beenxa0emailed back to the Council. On each of these occasions the Councilxa0was told that once these amendments had been made the business planxa0would be forwarded on to the Department of Finance and Personnel andxa0to the Executive. On each occasion the goalposts appeared to change.

“Friends of Exploris is impressed by the effort that the Council hasxa0put into developing this plan and believe that the Council is doingxa0its utmost to meet all the demands being made by the civil servants atxa0the Department of the Environment.

“The Council Officers have been veryxa0frank with us and are insistent on ongoing direct communication withxa0Friends of Exploris Trust. The Council also hopes to continue to workxa0with the Friends of Exploris Trust in the future development of Exploris.

“Friends of Exploris Trust has agreed to continue to support thexa0Council by lobbying and in any other way that we can in order to savexa0Exploris.”