County Derry among lowest areas for Spend Local transactions and income

County Derry was among the areas to benefit least from the Department for the Economy (DfE)'s High Street Scheme last autumn.

The scheme was introduced as part of a range of measures introduced by DfE to stimulate economic recovery in the region, with all residents eligible for a £100 Spend Local voucher.

Data released by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) has revealed just 13% of the scheme's £136.6 million total spend was carried out within County Derry's postal areas.

The county also accounted for just 13% of the total number of recorded transactions carried out using the vouchers during the same period.

Mid Ulster and Causeway Coast and Glens ranked second bottom and third bottom respectively for money spent in Northern Ireland, while Derry City and Strabane ranked slightly higher in 7th place.

Within the county, the more urban postcodes of BT47 and BT48 saw the highest spend, with £9,471,699 being spent in Derry City's two areas.

The figure means the city benefited from over half (52.3%) of the county's spend on the High Street scheme.

Elsewhere, Coleraine (BT52) saw a spend of £2,785,429 (15.4%), while Garvagh (BT51) and Magherafelt (BT45) ranked next highest with 10.4% and 10.3% respectively.

Portstewart's BT55 area saw the lowest spend at £414,936 (2.3%), while Maghera (BT46) and Limavady (BT49) ranked just above it on 2.8% and 6.6% respectively.

The data for the number of transactions followed a broadly similar trend, with 54.5% carried out in BT47 and BT48.

15.3% took place in Coleraine, 9.9% in Magherafelt, 8.6% in Garvagh and 6.6% in Limavady, with Maghera and Portstewart again taking the bottom slots with 2.5% and 2.6% respectively.

A comparison with population data indicated a trend in people spending their vouchers outside of their direct local areas, with a gravitation towards the higher populated areas.

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Derry City's postal areas make up 49.4% of the county's population, but accounted for 54.5% of its total transactions, while Coleraine had 15.3% of transactions but just 7.3% of the population.

The trend was matched on a wider level, where Belfast saw the highest percentage of transactions across Northern Ireland.

The district accounts for 18.4% of the total population, but saw 23.4% of the total number of Spend Local transactions, while Antrim and Newtownabbey had 8.1% of transactions and 7.6% of the population.

All other districts saw a lower percentage of transactions compared to their share of the North's population.

Economy Minister Gordon Lyons told the Assembly last week that the scheme had been a 'tremendous success'.

“The Scheme was designed to provide an economic boost to the local economy,” he said.

“To this end, £136.6 million has been injected into the local economy leading to an improved level of consumer confidence and increased levels of public spending.

“Nearly 1.4 million customers visited our local shops, restaurants, bars, cafes, cinemas, hairdressers across all parts of Northern Ireland during the lifetime of the Scheme.

“Over 3.7 million new transactions were made using the Spend Local card. Of course, we know that many of these customers ended up spending more than the £100 on local goods and services.

“We worked tirelessly with local traders and business community to ensure their understanding of the Scheme, incentivise sales and encourage spending.

“There is no doubt that the last two years have been tough for our local businesses but I am confident about the future for local businesses in Northern Ireland.

“The pandemic has highlighted the resilience and creativity of our local businesses across Northern Ireland.”

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