The council is pleased to have the opportunity to submit comments to your Committee in relation to its inquiry into the public expenditure aspects of inward investment in Northern Ireland.

  Since Council was granted powers permitting expenditure on local economic development it has been fully committed to promoting projects and initiatives to assist expansion of existing business and to attract new retail, industrial and manufacturing business to the Borough.

  In particular, it has developed a "Welcome Host Initiative" which seeks to ensure that the borough, led by the Borough Council, is established as being the local authority area within Northern Ireland with a structured support programme and a welcome host in place for:

—  Existing Indigenous Investors

—  Potential Inward Investors

—  Existing Inward Investors

  With regard to support for potential inward investors the key purpose of the support programme is to add specific value to IDB inward investment efforts. Council believes it can play a meaningful role through a structured support package designed to maximise the impact the Council can have in selling the benefits to potential inward investors of locating in the borough and considers it is best placed to provide local expertise and extra service to visiting investment delegations. Council however recognises the key role to be played by IDB and has been mindful in the development of its support programme not to duplicate the IDB's work.

  The Welcome Host initiative not only addresses the attraction of new inward investment but also works with the current inward investors in the Borough, ensuring their needs are being fully met and with indigenous businesses helping them to develop to their full potential.

  A project team has been developed and trained, an investment factfile and presentation has been produced. "In visit" itineraries for two hours and half day have been developed. In addition, under the auspices of a town centre partnership, a real opportunities brochure, accompanied by a retail factfile and vacancy database has been produced.

  An audit of two inward investment companies and two indigenous companies has been carried out. This has produced an action plan from which each of the businesses will further develop.

  While Council has worked closely with IDB in the development of its programme it believes there are areas of IDB activities which could be improved.

  It is the Council's view that there has been a lack of new investment in this Borough compared eg to Belfast and Derry Council areas when one looks at the number of visits and investment over the past five years. During this five year period the Council was not involved in any visits to this Borough organised by IDB.

  The record of IDB visits to this Borough includes visits to the Kendal Company, an American investment of which this Borough is very proud. Leading the medical supply market from a Northern Ireland base this company which commenced operations in 1967 in Ballymoney employing 40 people in a 20,000 square foot facility now, ten extensions later, operates from a state of the art 200,000 square foot factory employing over 300. IDB, during investment visits, rightly use this plant as an excellent example of how investment can flourish in Northern Ireland. Therefore the number of visits to the plant, probably the substantial number, do not represent investors seriously looking at Ballymoney as a location. There are no doubt other plants in the Province which IDB visit on a similar basis. To give a true picture it is considered that the manner in which visits are recorded should distinguish between general visits by investors to flagship companies and visits by investors seriously looking at individual areas as a location.

  Land zoned in this Borough is relatively small compared to some other areas in the Province and it is Council's belief that the number of visits a Council area receives is dictated both by its location and land availability. Council considers that there should be more equitable distribution of landbanks in Council areas. In addition it considers that there should be greater involvement between IDB and local authorities following interest by companies in investment in Northern Ireland, with the aim of ensuring a fairer distribution of visits to Council areas.

  Some areas such as Ballymena and Banbridge have benefited from the creation of business parks which have attracted new investment to these areas. In this Borough however no land has been zoned for this purpose and Council views this as a distinct disadvantage, particularly given that while some interest has been expressed by investors in certain locations development has not proceeded due to constraints by Planning Service on land use. Council considers that it should have a greater influence in zoning of land and there is need for greater flexibility by the Planning Service in meeting the needs of potential investors.

  Council considers that the manner in which IDB report jobs created could be improved. Currently jobs created are bundled among jobs safeguarded. A clearer picture would be given if the number of new jobs and the number of safeguarded jobs were split and the investment against each of the two categories also recorded separately.

  In order to support locally produced products Council considers that each inward investment company should be contracted to agreeing to take a certain percentage of its raw material from Northern Ireland based companies, as has been the case in regions in mainland UK.

  The difference in the level of Corporation Tax between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland places the Province at a disadvantage when attracting investment. There is no doubt that company taxation is a major factor which can influence international investment decisions.

  Ballymoney has suffered as a result of the fire at the Malton Plant at Agivey and although the IDB worked closely with the Company to re-establish the business it has been located in Ballymena area. In addition this Borough is faced with the probable closure of Cooneen Textiles in Cloughmills which has placed all 128 of its employees on protective notice following its failure to secure sufficient profitable work as a result of falling sales and continued pressure on margins on the High Street. In both these operations there are people with specific skills and there is need to put in place schemes to retrain these people and to attract suitable new businesses from those sectors with growth potential.

  Council has considered the Government's agenda for Targeting Social Need and promoting social inclusion in Northern Ireland and believes that the Robson index is not a fair method of measuring deprivation. For example areas such as Ballymoney with a population dispersed throughout a rural area cannot be compared to urban settlements such as Belfast and Londonderry. It contends that spend outside TSN areas or other deprived areas will have an effect through the region.

  Having separate grants for a region as small as Northern Ireland is regarded by Council as unfair. The region as a whole is designated as Objective 1 in terms of European Funding and it is difficult to understand the reasoning behind parts of this region being classes as more deprived particularly given the belief that the means of measuring deprivation through the "Robson" index is flawed.

6 December 1999