Bridge Partnership Gets its Programmes Off the Ground ::

The Bridge Partnership (Banbridge District Local Strategy Partnership Limited) has made major progress in achieving its ambitious Integrated Local Strategy by launching several of its Peace II Programmes this week. This development is significant as it means the funding package awarded from the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation (Peace II) to finance the Strategy can now be released to help create a better quality of life for many groups in the District.

Celebrating the launch of The Bridge Partnership’s Peace II Programmes are its Chair, Nigel Smith, the SEUPB’s Deputy Chief Executive, Nuala Kerr, Council Chairman, Councillor David Herron, Elaine Gillespie, Programme Manager and Liam Hannaway, Secretary.

Welcoming the announcement, Nigel Smith, Chairman of The Bridge Partnership, stated, “The resource commitment of over £850,000 will make a real difference to the many areas and groups for which it has been designated. We have been very keen to launch our Peace II Programmes but progress could not be made until project promoters had been appointed to manage each Programme and suitable structures had been put in place for developing the Action Plan for each Programme. Now that we have overcome the obstacles, which prevented the release of funding, we can focus on delivering our Programmes and implementing our Integrated Local Strategy.”

He added, “The nine Programmes we have developed will focus on areas of disadvantage such as employment, childcare, training, environment, information technology and education and will be targeted at young people, parents, community groups, businesses, women and victims. We believe that support for the local social economy infrastructure must be complemented by support for human resources if the infrastructure is to work. There is also a need to support the development of skills that can help people engage in mainstream economic activity.”

Nuala Kerr, Deputy Chief Executive of the Special EU Programmes Body, which is the Managing Authority for Peace II, attended the launch. She said, “Today's announcement is the culmination of 18 months hard work by The Bridge Partnership, which is to be congratulated for the breadth of Peace II Programmes it will fund and the projects it will support. Since it was set up in November 2001, The Bridge Partnership has been performing well in the area of local co-ordination in the sphere of development. What is particularly impressive is the way that it is building partnerships with all the groups and agencies involved in creating a more stable and peaceful society. They are to be commended both for their vision of the future and for the way that they are making it a reality.”

Most of The Bridge Partnership’s Peace II Programmes have a three-year timeframe and will be managed by different project promoters. Some Programmes will involve a direct application for funding while others will be generally directed at targeted groups throughout the District.

The launch took place at the Council’s ‘Good Neighbours, Safer Places’ conference held in the Belmont Hotel on 20 February 2003.