By Iain Gray
MILLISLE’S sand-strewn beach car park is to get a £13,000 clean-up job from Ards and North Down Council.
But councillors sounded a note of caution about the price of the work – not least as it’s unplanned spending for the council.
And the job would have to be done annually, which could bump up rates bills in future.
More than 90 spaces in the Ballywalter Road facility have been out of action after being hit by sand.
The problem got so bad because council staff only had permission to clean one side of it, leaving spaces on the other side to be swallowed by sand blown from the beach during storms.
The car park is supposed to play a vital role hosting visitors to Ards Peninsula’s popular kite festival, scheduled to be held in Millisle at the end of August.
But with so many spaces either completely or partially covered in sand, much of the facility would be unusable.
With large numbers of visitors unable to park, festival organisers feared the event would take a hit.
Last week the council voted to clean up the car park before the festival, though officials warned that the local authority hadn’t budgeted for the £13,000 price of the job.
And it would likely need to be done annually, which had some councillors urging caution during a meeting last Wednesday night.
Although all politicians were very supportive of the kite festival, alderman Philip Smith and councillor Richard Smart both raised concerns about spending a five-figure sum unplanned.
Pointing out that the council’s budget for car parks is very small, making the £13,000 a big splurge in that context, both of the UUP politicians wanted to make sure that the council will be able to afford it and hold serious discussions about where the money’s going to come from.
Independent councillor Ray McKimm predicted that the clean-up would be the first in a string of increasingly costly attempts to tackle the effects of coastal erosion, and called on the council to put together forward-looking strategies instead of having to spend money on the fly.
However, DUP alderman Robert Adair insisted that the bill is only high because the car park has been neglected, and predicted that the cost would probably come down in future years.
“The work’s going to have to be done sooner rather than later,” said Mr Adair. “Why not do it to accommodate this festival?”
The council unanimously agreed to clean up the car park.
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