Reprieve for North West 200 as councillors vote in favour of support package

A local Council has tonight confirmed it will provide additional assistance to one of Northern Ireland's largest annual tourism events.

Coleraine and District Motor Club – the organisation responsible for the North West 200 – had brought a partnership proposal to Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council last month.

The proposal sought assistance from Council for the building of the race course, event management support and the provision of dedicated office space for the 2023 event.

At last month's Leisure and Development Committee, it was agreed to meet a delegation from the motor club, with the final proposal to be voted on at Tuesday's meeting.

Cllr John McAuley's proposed that the Council provide support for the running of the North West 200, but only for the course build and the office space.

In addition, the support was offered with the proviso that the Coleraine and District Motor Club produce a detailed business plan for how they will become self-funding within five years, as well as a succession plan for the management of the event.

“The reality is that this event is the biggest income; it has already been publicly acknowledged that it is worth £16 million to the economy,” he said.

“For us as a Council, it would be wrong not to try and help them some way, even though it needs to be put on record that we are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“To leave the full responsibility of whether the event goes ahead at the Council's doorstep is wrong, but we are where we are.

“We can't continue just to bail out events that aren't council-owned.”

DUP Council lead Cllr John McAuley

Cllr McAuley's proposal was seconded by Cllr Edgar Scott, but independent councillor Pádraig McShane said organisation was running 'on the good grace of its creditors'.

“It is £170,000 in debt; how it got there nobody knows, but it was handed over in good condition to the present leadership with £150,000 in the bank and TV rights for the BBC,” he said.

“There is something gone badly wrong with the management. Everybody is getting the feedback of motorcycle fans and those who delivered on the ground over the years.

“We are opening a can of worms with this, and we must figure out where the finance went to, how it was spent, because it is not clear from their books; they are the most appalling books I've ever seen.

“We are not in a position to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds because someone came in here with a big sad face on and told us we'd be losing money for the Borough.”

Sinn Féin's Leanne Peacock said it was wrong that the responsibility for financial issues 'to be laid at the door of the Council and our rate payers'.

“We're already massive contributors to this event,” she said.

“After all these years of success, we have concerns that the North West 200 is not already sustainable and profitable.

Formal complaint submitted over North West 200 toilet facilities

The Mae Murray Foundation had criticised facilities for disabled people at last month's event.

“To my knowledge they have not come to Council with any plans or steps they've already taken to address these issues.

“The North West 200 is also a limited company – a business – and I would be concerned about the legality of entering into a partnership; this proposal could set a dangerous precedent.”

Cllr Edgar Scott said he feared that once the event was lost, it would never return.

“Given what it brings into the economy here, we need to be very careful what we do. All other councils are running events for the very same reasons we are looking to support this one,” he said.

“It helps out businesses, and if it goes this year – especially after being missing two years because of Covid – I don't think we'll ever see it back again.”

Cllr Stephanie Quigley asked the Council to detail their contribution to the event in 2022 and what it would cost in 2023 under the new proposal.

More than one fifth of Council funding concentrated in one area

Figures obtained by Derry Now have broken down the destination of council funding from 2015-2020.

A Council officer shared figures showing the Council committed £179,000 to the event last year, with that amount rising by an estimated £96,000 even without the event management aspect.

Cllr William McCandless said though there was a current need for austerity and caution, there was a major concern that the North West 200 was in danger of not returning.

“People will not thank us for that,” he said.

“It's a major revenue-generator; we've known that for years on the north coast. To cancel such a significant event seven months prior would be foolhardy.

“Let's put the checks and balances on this, so we know exactly, rather than speculating here tonight.”

The meeting then went into private 'in committee' discussion to allow legal advice to be taken and after a brief recess, councillors voted in favour of the proposal.

21 members voted in favour, eleven against and there were three abstentions.