2024-2028 Corporate Plan p2

Your Council

40 Councillors, elected in 7 District Electoral Areas, working together to create a better future for all in Mid and East Antrim.

For details on your elected representatives please go to our Councillors section.

Our Borough

The borough of Mid and East Antrim covers an area of just over 400 square miles extending from the River Bann in the west, to the beautiful Antrim coast in the east, and includes part of the Antrim Coast and Glens Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

There are 3 main towns, Ballymena, Carrickfergus and Larne, and a host of welcoming villages and rural communities, which are home to a population of just under 140,000 people.

Our Highlights

The below provides a snapshot of just a few of our activities throughout the past year.

The upcoming points provide a snapshot of just a few of our activities throughout the past year. These have helped to enhance community bonds, drive economic growth, and enrich the overall quality of life for everyone living, working, visiting and doing business in our borough.

Our highlights include:

• £260,000 grant funding awarded to local groups across the borough.
• 17 work placements facilitated across various Council departments.
• 12,788 tonnes of materials processed through our Household Recycling Centres.
• 3.2 tonnes of toys donated through our Christmas Toy Container Project.
• 5,368 items collected through the School Uniform Scheme, benefitting 1,676 children and young people.
• 45,250 attendees enjoyed 18 Council organised events.
• 384 home safety checks carried out across the borough.
• 14 community planning initiatives delivered.
• 795 businesses engaged through a variety of economic support programmes.
• 150,000 visitors welcomed at our key tourist attractions.
• 2,554 individuals participated in 88 outdoor recreation programmes.
• 60,512 trees planted across the borough.
• 14 Autism Awareness workshops delivered.
• 9,755 individuals took part in 1,308 MEActive sessions.
• 416 participants supported through employability programmes, resulting in 340 qualifications and 182 jobs.

Working in Partnership

The ambitions we have for Mid and East Antrim cannot be met by the Council or any singular organisation alone.

Success will depend on our people and organisations coming together to harness their collective knowledge, skills, effort, and passion for the benefit of everyone.

We are committed to developing and maintaining strong partnerships with organisations – including community groups and public, private, and third sector organisations – from across Northern Ireland to deliver on shared outcomes and goals, which can only be achieved when we work together.

Over the years, we have collaborated with partners to deliver a range of awareness raising campaigns, community events, training sessions and transformational projects for the lifelong benefit of our citizens.

As we move forward into the next four years and beyond, we will continue to work with our partners on the issues impacting our communities.

These include, but are not limited to, poverty, unemployment, mental health awareness, suicide prevention and safety on our roads.

It would be impossible for us to list all of our partners, however, an example of just some of the organisations we work with include:

• Alzheimer’s Society
• Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
• Tourism Northern Ireland
• Diabetes UK
• Invest Northern Ireland
• Sport Northern Ireland
• Macmillan Cancer Support
• Department for Communities
• Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service
• Northern Ireland Water
• Police Service of Northern Ireland
• Woodland Trust
• Policing & Community Safety Partnership
• Sustainable Northern Ireland
• Department of Health

Developing our Plan

Our Corporate Plan has been heavily influenced by a variety of internal and external factors, each of which can have a direct impact on our ability to achieve our vision.

Corporate Plan influencers are:

• Our Community Plan 2017-2032
• Council surveys
• Council strategies and policies
• Statutory duties
• Programme for Government
• Regional statistical data
• Customer feedback
• Council resources
• Environmental social & economic landscape of Northern Ireland

You Told Us

We undertook a Citizens Survey in 2022 to provide us with an understanding of the views of our citizens.

We used the feedback obtained to guide us in the development of this Plan.

Your top 5 priorities for making the borough a better place to live are:

1. Supporting and developing activities for children and young people.
2. Support to reduce poverty.
3. Developing skills and job prospects.
4. Delivering clean and attractive streets and towns.
5. Supporting our parks, green spaces and the natural and built environment.