The Ulster Farmers’ Union have submitted their response to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s consultation on the proposal to relocate DARD’s Headquarters to the dis-used Shackleton Barracks in Ballykelly.
UFU President Harry Sinclair said; “The UFU fully supports the objective of moving jobs into rural areas however, we do not accept that very significant amounts of tax payers’ money should be spent on two separate DARD staff accommodation projects for both DARD Direct and the relocation of DARD Headquarters. We have always questioned the appropriateness of spending a large amount of tax payers money on a re-location project in the current economic climate and with DARD’s budget constantly under pressure, we propose that DARD should hold off both considering and also allocating funding on the relocation of DARD Headquarters until a full evaluation is carried out on the effectiveness of the DARD Direct delivery. If DARD Direct is a success, many of DARD’s front line staff would be moved into the rural community anyway, reducing the necessary staff in DARD’s Headquarters leading to a reduced accommodation and budget requirement for the staff in DARD’s Headquarters.”
“The UFU is also not convinced that, as claimed in the DARD consultation document, the proposed relocation of DARD’s Headquarters would not adversely impact on its business partners such as the UFU despite the department’s intention to make greater use of technology to interact with their business partners.”
