It is that time of year again when the Ardglass Development Association, a registered charity, is due to have its annual general meeting and subsequently publish its accounts, as all charities are now obliged to do with the Charities Commission of Northern Ireland, writes Jim Masson.
The importance of having a healthy regeneration process in a small fishing community on the east coast of County Down such as Ardglass cannot be overstated. The past decade has seen its tourism footfall and retail and hospitality sectors shrink, and the fishing industry struggling in the teeth of the Brussels bureaucracy. There has been little inward investment into the village apart from a streetscape improvement scheme and improvements to the fish market premises.
Back in 2014 the Ardglass Residents Group did bring forward a strategic plan for the village with the aid of a consultancy and should be congratulated for that. But it was in the past the role of Ardglass Development Association (ADA) to be the delivery mechanism for strategic change. The question is, is ADA going to step up to the plate and promote a fully inclusive and representative cross-section of the people of the Ardglass community who are capable of delivering on a development agenda?
Back on 28 December 2014, the AGM arranged in ADA’s Bath Street premises was cancelled just twenty minutes before it was due to take place at 11am, and the front door was locked while people intending to attend gathered on the street. A notice was placed in the window of the front door of the cancellation indicating there would be one called again in the near future.
Whatever the apparent reason for the cancellation, ADA is duty bound because of its constitution to call an AGM annually, and, assuming they have not called one already and it has slipped the public attention, it is long overdue. This could mean that ADA has not had a proper AGM since 2013 at least.
As Down News goes to print, there is no notice of an AGM on the ADA website or their Facebook page, and no notices around Ardglass or in the local press.
It is public knowledge that ADA has made a claim over Phennick Cove Developments, the £1.4 million EU/IFI funded marina project in Ardglass which opened in 1997, and is calling on this limited company by guarantee to open up and make their funds available to the Ardglass community. Phennick Cove Developments is currently liaising with the NI Charities Commission on the issue of governance and its relationship to ADA.
However, is this just a case of the pot calling the kettle black? ADA itself has in fact set up a company called Ardglass Development Association CP Ltd, and is this company driving the development of the Ardglass Heritage Centre and indeed ADA? Is it accountable to ADA?
It would be considered good practice if this company was completely answerable to the ADA executive and ultimately the community of Ardglass, but as yet this principle does not appear to have been tested at an AGM of ADA where directors to this company are to be openly and tranparently and democratically elected and accountable to the members body – ie the people of Ardglass. It was a requirement of receiving the DRAP grant for the Ardglass Maritime Heritage Centre that a company be set up to manage the project, but the boundaries of this governance issue need to be clarified.
The voluntary and community sector is a very significant part of our local economy and indeed social life, with many volunteers across Northern Ireland readily giving their valuable personal time to their communities, they add millions of pounds of value annually to the economy. Volunteers do tend to burn out after two terms on a committee and for this reason often need replenished at an AGM if the organisation is to run at its best.
In the past twenty years plus since the cease fire in 1994, the voluntary sector has played a vital role in building peace and community relations, and in preparing communities to avail of strategic investments from a wide range of funders, be they the EU, the UK and Irish governments, public bodies, National Lottery, businesses, quangos, the IFI, councils, trusts, banks, etc etc.
There has been a very significant release of funds to the voluntary and community sector over these years, but local accountability is nevertheless fundamental to the success of all the efforts in building a better society and regional and local level. And integral in this democratic process is the right for local communities to hold their development associations to account, and to (when necessary) replenish that body of volunteers with new members and new energy.
ADA, like all community groups must adhere to the pillars of good community development: openness, transparency, accountability and democracy. It is unacceptable NOT to call an annual general meeting whatever the current members of the ADA executive may think or believe is a relevant reason. Holding an AGM is procedural as per the constitution and an AGM should be called.
Ardglass Development Association is a locally elected body of volunteers and as such its executive committee should be now putting up notices of an AGM and reporting their year’s work to the people of Ardglass and its district. An excellent website was recently funded by the Down Rural Area Partnership (DRAP) and should be used to keep Ardglass up-to-date with developments. A full report of the Association’s activities would be appropriate. This should account for its recent claims on Ardglass marina, and a statement on its finances and general activities. Other items of a legal and sensitive nature such as the two court cases pending relating to alledged assaults, (cases awaiting court hearings that ADA members are involved in which may be sub judice) could at least be noted.
All-in-all, it should prove to be an interesting, lengthy and hopefully productive annual general meeting… if called. Investment in Ardglass could and should be greater and more focussed with more community activism.
Mediation is a growing dynamic in the voluntary and community sector and it could have been used as a mechanism to resolve some of the key issues currently facing ADA and improve relations within the community. However, despite certain efforts, the ADA executive has been unwilling to go down the pathway of mediation and reconcile its issues with those who it has grievances with. For some reason, it has chosen to take a legalistic approach, which is not good for community relations at grass roots.
Northern Ireland now sees itself at the start of a new Structural Funding period within the EU and considerable funding could and probably will come to Ardglass area if it moves in the right strategic direction as a community. And the strategic organisation for that purpose was the Ardglass Development Association, founded in 1991.
Questionably, did ADA in fact consult with the people of Ardglass over its Ardglass Martime Heritage project before or after the development? Consultation is an integral part of confidence-building in a community. Certainly the business community did get aboard the business directory platform on the new Ardglass website… progressive attempts to do this over 15 years ago fell on barren ground… so that is at least welcome progress. But overall, community engagement appears very low.
And of course there are issues around the absence of proper planning permission for this development within a conservation zone which appears to have slipped the attention of the ADA executive committee and the project manager despite it being drawn to their attention by local interested persons. The Local Planners have currently served at least two enforcement notices on ADA requesting they comply with proper planning permission at their premises in Bath Street and a set of plans have finally been submitted (but it remains to be seen if they are satisfactory and will be approved.)
It also remains to be seen what the ADA executive committee members will now do. There has been a considerable internal reshuffle of officers and members it appears and it does beg certain questions: was an ‘AGM’ in fact held behind closed doors in early 2015? Are the minutes of the meeting and accounts available for public inspection? Will the next AGM take this format?
The contact details of the ADA officers and executive committee members are NOT itemised on the ADA “responsive” website or social media platforms which would also be good practice. In fact, there has not been a post on the ADA Facebook page since 9 September – for four months. Down News has in the past always striven to encourage ADA to interact with the people of Ardglass in a positive and engaging way.
***
Down News has given ADA reasonable opportunity to address key questions, the most important of which is: is there to be an AGM called in the near future? And if so, what date, at what time, and where ? Will it be in a suitable neutral venue at an appropriate time of day to optimise attendance of the people of the Ardglass area?
The ADA chairperson indicated she would not be commenting to Down News and that no AGM was planned at this moment as “no-one was interested.” ADA was given sufficient right of reply by Down News of intent to publish ie telephone calls to the ADA office (no replies), an email (no reply), a Facebook message (no reply) and a verbal approach which eventually determined no AGM was planned.
***
The section if the ADA constitution which refers to AGM’s.
