National Association of Councillors Northern Ireland- councillors pay, expenses, code of conduct - Jubilee Road Newtownards, Co. Down N.Ireland.

If you have any problem or query relating to your work as a councillor. If there is anything you think would make the job easier. If there is any help or support we could give you. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

National Association of Councillors Northern Ireland Region Sketrick House Jubilee Road Newtownards BT23 4YH t: 028 9181 9413 e: office@nac-ni.org

Members’ Meetings We provide a bi-monthly forum that is open to all Councillors to exchange information, share experiences, and voice their opinions and concerns. Delegates that have been nominated by their Council will receive meeting invitations and papers, but all Councillors are welcome to attend. Councillors that would like to join us should send an email request to office@nac-ni.org so that they can be added to the guest mailing list. Note - only officially nominated Council Delegates can vote, make decisions, or be elected on to the Executive Committee

Meeting with LAMA January 2019 Members of the NAC Executive Committee met with members of the LAMA Officer Board. Both organisations provided an update on what they have been working on and exchanged information on the structure of their organisations and discussed items relevant to Elected Members within their areas. Please click here for more information

MEETINGS

NAC UK AGM & Conference 23 to 25 November 2018 A number of Councillors from Northern Ireland attended the 2018 NAC UK Annual Conference and AGM which took place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Chester. The conference focus was Standards in Local Government & The Code of Conduct for Councillors and the speakers included Marie Anderson, the Northern Ireland Local Government Commissioner for Standards. Councillors from all regions of the UK, participated in the Q & A sessions and contributed to the conference workshops and training.

NAC NI Region Chairman, Ald Michael Henderson MBE, with Northern Ireland Councillors and NAC UK Officers at the 2018 NAC UK AGM in Chester

Annual General Meeting – October 2018 The NAC AGM took place on 5 October 2018 at the Glenavon House Hotel in Cookstown. Invited guests in attendance were the NAC National Chairman, Councillor Marie Garrity and the NAC UK General Secretary, Councillor Brian Nelson. There was a good representation of Councillors from all regions there and following elections for the NAC Executive Committee they heard from Mr Kevin Higgins of Advice NI who provided a presentation on Universal Credit.

5 October 2018 NAC NI and NAC UK Officers address the NAC Members at the Annual General Meeting

Meeting with AILG August 2018 Pictured from left to right NAC Jnr Vice Chair, Cllr Terry Andrews, AILG President, Cllr Damien Geoghegan, NAC Secretary, Cllr Joe Boyle, NAC Women’s’ Representative, Cllr Beth Adger MBE and NAC Chair Ald Michael Henderson MBE.

Following a request made by our Members we arranged a meeting with the President, Cllr Damien Geoghegan and Co-Director Mr Tom Moylan of the Association of Irish Local Government (AILG). This was very interesting and informative and AILG provided information on the development of their operation and the training and benefits available to the 949 Elected Members that span their 32 local government Councils. They also gave us an insight to their views on the possible effect of Brexit.

The National Association of Councillors, Northern Ireland Region, Annual General Meeting 2019 took place on Friday 4 October 2019 at the Glenavon House Hotel in Cookstown. Following the elections in May the NAC Officers were delighted to welcome back the NAC Delegates that have retained their seats and also to welcome, for the first time, all newly elected NAC Delegates. Invited guests were also in attendance from: • National Association of Councillors UK • Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA) • Association of Irish Local Government (AILG) • Local Authorities Members Association (LAMA) Our highly acclaimed guest speaker, ANDREA WINDERS of DISRUPTIEVE provided a dynamic presentation on the Regeneration of Towns and Villages. As an Urban Disruptor, Andrea shared her unique method for approaching failing areas, applying disruption, whether physical, digital or other, and she gave details of a live project in the UK. Andrea is available for discussions or meetings with councils and she can be contacted by email at andrea.winders@disruptieve.com

L to R – Cllr Micheál Anglim LAMA, Cllr Brian Nelson NAC UK, Andrea Winders Disruptieve, Cllr Mick Cahill AILG, Ald Michael Henderson NAC NI, Cllr Frances Burton NILGA, Cllr Terry Shannon LAMA, Cllr Joe Boyle NAC NI

Meeting on LGTG Review 22 January 2020 At this meeting the Chair of the Local Government Training Group (LGTG), Mr Stephen Reid advised that the contract for the e-learning portal currently provided by Learning Pool will be expiring soon but it can still be accessed until December 2020. He also said that an independent consultancy will carry out a review proposal with input from organisations including the NAC, the review will help decide how things go moving forward and benchmarks from across the UK will be looked at.

Meeting with SOLACE 17 January 2020 A meeting with representatives from SOLACE, NILGA and the NAC took place at the NILGA offices in Belfast. The NAC had put forward a number of items for the agenda in relation to our members’ concerns and following discussion the SOLACE Chair, Mr David Jackson, agreed to raise these matters with all council chief executives at the next SOLACE meeting which is scheduled to take place on 7 February 2020. We will keep our members updated on the meeting outcomes when feedback is received.

NAC February 2020 Members’ Meeting The first NAC Members’ Meeting for 2020 took place on 19 February in Mossley Mill, Newtownabbey. The Mayor of Antrim & Newtownabbey, Ald John Smyth greeted attendees as they arrived and in his welcome address to the NAC members, he spoke about the borough’s success at the December 2019 all Ireland IPB Pride of Place Awards where they were named as the Best Local Authority.

The NAC Chair, Ald Tommy Sandford, asked Ald Smyth to convey our thanks to Antrim & Newtownabbey Borough Council for hosting the meeting.

Members’ Meeting 20 January 2021 Members’ Meeting 18 November 2020

NAC MEETINGS UPDATE – September 2020 We had our first Zoom Members’ Meeting during August and, despite a few minor teething problems, many of our members joined in and welcomed the opportunity to receive feedback on the NAC’s actions, take part in the discussions, and share details on how our various councils are currently operating under the challenges of the COVID-19 restrictions. .

National Association of Councillors AGM 2019

NAC AGM 2020 The Annual General Meeting of the National Association of Councillors took place on Friday 2 October 2020 at the Glenavon House Hotel in Cookstown. In line with the restrictions this year, the NAC Executive Committee decided not to invite guests from outside of the region, which included our colleagues from the NAC UK and representatives from our counterpart organisations in Southern Ireland, the AILG (Association of Irish Local Government) and LAMA (Local Authority Members Association). However, we have continued to keep in touch with officers from all these organisations over recent months and we will carry on with building upon the strong relationships that we have formed. We did have guests in attendance from the Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA) and this included the NILGA Chief Executive, Mr Derek McCallan; Cllr Frances Burton, Office Bearer and Elected Member Development Chair and Ms Fiona Douglas, Regional Development Manager. For the NAC 2020 AGM Programme & Meeting Minutes from our 2019 AGM please click here See Gallery for pictures from this event.

Meetings Update December 2020 With NAC meetings now back up and running on schedule again our final Members’ Meeting for 2020 took place by Zoom on Wednesday 18 November. Although it is generally felt that ‘in person’ meetings are preferred it was good to see many members in attendance and participating by putting forward useful information and views on the topics discussed.Our final Executive Committee Meeting for 2020 also took place by Zoom. However, prior to the latest lockdown, the committee did get the opportunity to hold their September, October and November meetings face to face, whilst keeping within the COVID-19 Guidelines. The Committee thanks the following councils for facilitating these sessions: Derry City and Strabane District Council - September meeting at The Council Chamber in The Guildhall, Derry/Londonderry Mid Ulster District Council - October meeting at The Council Chamber in Dungannon Council Offices Fermanagh & Omagh District Council - November meeting at The Council Chamber in Enniskillen Town Hall

Minutes of Meetings

Members’ Meeting 24 March 2021

t: 028 9181 9413 e: office@nac-ni.org

Members’ Meeting 19 May 2021

Upcoming Members’ Meetings NAC Members Meetings are now completed for 2021 and will resume again in 2022. Dates and further details will be circulated and published soon.

Members’ Meeting 21 July 2021

Members’ Meeting 15 September 2021

If you have any problem or query relating to your work as a councillor, if there is anything you think would make the job easier, if there is any help or support we could give you, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

National Association of Councillors Northern Ireland Region Sketrick House Jubilee Road Newtownards BT23 4YH

MEETINGS

NAC NI Region Chairman, Ald Michael Henderson MBE, with Northern Ireland Councillors and NAC UK Officers at the 2018 NAC UK AGM in Chester

5 October 2018 NAC NI and NAC UK Officers address the NAC Members at the Annual General Meeting

Minutes of Meeting Members’ Meeting 15 September 2021 Members’ Meeting 20 January 2021 Members’ Meeting 18 November 2020

Annual General Meeting October 2018 The NAC AGM took place on 5 October 2018 at the Glenavon House Hotel in Cookstown. Invited guests in attendance were the NAC National Chairman, Councillor Marie Garrity and the NAC UK General Secretary, Councillor Brian Nelson. There was a good representation of Councillors from all regions there and following elections for the NAC Executive Committee they heard from Mr Kevin Higgins of Advice NI who provided a presentation on Universal Credit.