Robinson & McGuinness compelled officials compelled over land deal

The First and deputy First Ministers have only used ministerial direction twice since 2007 – and both occasions relate to the Shackleton former military site at Ballykelly.

An Assembly answer in response to question from Opposition leader Mike Nesbitt shows that Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness used the mechanism in order to first take the Ballykelly site into their department’s ownership in 2011, and then to put it on the market just four years later – without going through a business case.

The Executive Office (TEO) said that it took the site into its ownership because “the proposed selling price was not high enough to maximise the value of the site”.

It then justified the decision to put the site on the market without going through the normal protocols by saying that it was due to “ministers’ assessment of the benefits in disposing of the site expeditiously”.

The 621-acre site was sold to Newry-based MJM Group for £1 million in February – a price of just £1,620 an acre and one far beneath the value of agricultural land, something which TUV leader Jim Allister expressed concern about at the time.

Ulster Unionist MLA Harold McKee MLA said that the First and deputy First Ministers “owe the public an explanation and should provide clear answers” about why they had acted as they did.

He said: “After I questioned departmental officials at Stormont’s Agriculture Committee last Thursday, they revealed that DAERA spent £600,000 of taxpayers’ money on a half-acre strip of land for access to the new headquarters [at Ballykelly] only months after selling 621 acres for £1 million.

“This demonstrates that the Ballykelly site was getting special attention from the First Ministers’ office.”

He added: “Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness should tell us what the benefits were that overrode going through the normal procedures on two occasions in relation to Ballykelly.

“Without thinking this through, and commissioning a business case, they have ended up paying the equivalent of 1,242 times more for land in Ballykelly than they got for selling. Additionally, they failed to apply the principle that the polluter pays and the MoD has got away without ensuring the land is cleared of diesel leaks, stray munitions and other pollutants.”

The Department of agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) defended the situation.

A spokesman said that the £21m relocation of its Belfast headquarters to a part of the Ballykelly site would bring around 600 civil service jobs to Ballykelly, boost the local economy and help regenerate the wider area.

He said that the project is “on time and within budget” and that “a new access road has always been an integral part of this project and while every option was considered before the contract was awarded in March, ultimately the one chosen was the best value for money”.

A spokesperson for TEO said: “DAERA has commented on behalf of the Executive so we have nothing further to add.”