Councillor Simon Hamilton has expressed his concern that proposals to establish 10 DARD (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development) Direct offices will discriminate against the farming community in Ards and North Down.

DARD Direct is an “innovative one stop shop idea” designed to improve the delivery of DARD services to farmers and members of the rural community by dealing with various issues at one contact point.

Proposals in a recently published consultation document show that no DARD Direct will be sited in the northern half of County Down with farmers from Ards and North Down having to travel to Downpatrick to use the department’s services that are available in Newtownards.

Commenting on the possible changes in location, Mr Hamilton said: “Farming is a pivotal part of our way of life in Ards. We are fortunate to have such a rich rural heritage in Ards and our community and our economy benefits from that. We all know that farming is an industry that faces day in and day out challenges.

“I believe that the proposed sites for the 10 DARD Directs deeply disadvantages many of my constituents. As the map on page 41 of the consultation clearly shows, large sections of North Down and Ards which are heavily farmed areas, are not within a 16 mile radius of one of the new one stop shops.

“This contrasts starkly with parts of counties Londonderry and Antrim where as many as three DARD Directs will be within a 16 mile radius of some locations.

“Indeed, I would suggest that whilst the lower section of the Ards Peninsula is shown to be within a 16 mile radius of the proposed DARD Direct in Downpatrick, this simple drawing of a circle on a map does not take into account geographical factors like the need to cross Strangford Lough and the attendant difficulties this can bring.”

A spokesman for DARD said the department had yet to take a decision on the locations of the proposed offices, with the exception of Inishkeen House in Enniskillen “as it has already been modified to test the DARD Direct service delivery model”.

“The DARD Direct offices will be strategically located across Northern Ireland within a reasonable distance of customers’ businesses,” the spokesman said.

“The department is currently undertaking an Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) on the roll out of DARD Direct across Northern Ireland. Following consideration of the feedback from the consultation, decisions will be made on where the DARD Direct offices will be located.”

The public consultation phase of the EQIA runs to Friday, September 5. The consultation document outlining DARD Direct proposals has been published and is available at: http://www.dardni.gov.uk/index/consultations/active-consultations/consultations-dard-direct.htm

“This document includes a map of the indicative locations,” the spokesman continued. “However, it is stressed that apart from Inishkeen House in Enniskillen these are not necessarily final locations.

“No decision will be taken on either the number of remaining DARD Direct offices or their final locations until all the feedback received through the EQIA consultation process has been carefully considered.

“DARD would encourage anyone who has issues or concerns about the roll out of DARD Direct to contact us with their views as part of this consultation.”