Post on 12-Jan-2016
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Pat MulvennaNorth East Partnership
NSMC office
Armagh 30th April 2015
The NEP area
RIVER Project
£1.2million INTERREG IVA funding for the ‘Regeneration of Villages on Inland Waterways and Emergency
Rescue Services’.
Location Project INTERREG funding
Total value of project
Belturbet Construction of a replacement floating jetty, car parking, lighting and associated access requirements
£223k £236k
Drumaheglis Develop a multi-purpose building at the marina £250k £514k
Kilrea To provide a cycle path from the town to the river and to improve waterside access
£273k £529k
Portglenone To develop an additional jetty offering 12 new berths, canoe steps and environmental improvements
£320k £532k
Community Rescue Service
To provide 16 secure handheld radio sets to assist with search and rescue operations and water based training
£11K n/a
Project Objectives
• Four regeneration schemes implemented• To measurably increase local community
usage of the facilities• To measurably increase the visitor numbers to
the facilities• To measurably increase the visitor usage
satisfaction levels
RIVER project
RIVER project
Additional support included:
• Installation of electronic footfall counters
• Integrated Marketing support – including new brand, marketing strategy and PR campaign (2 maps, schools competition and ‘Best of Awards’)
• Workshops and meetings with location reps and other stakeholders
Progress so far?
• Easter 2015 event at Drumaheglis attracted well over 1000 people compared to a few hundred the previous year.
• Belturbet marina is now being used extensively by all sections of the community, particularly children and the elderly as it is safer and more accessible. The outdoor gym equipment is extremely popular. The new jetty is constantly full of boats even out of season.
• Portglenone is now established as a major node on the Bann and has a year round programme of festivals and sporting events.
• Through the improvements, Kilrea is starting to address the issue of the river being physically divided from the town.
Lessons learnt – critical success factors
Standardised data collection
Greater stakeholder collaboration
Position river-based activity within overarching Development/Tourism Plans
Integrated Marketing and PR