areas of interest

The The North Antrim Community Network network represents rural community and sectored interest groups in the council areas of Ballymena, Ballymoney, Larne and Moyle.

Hard at work

Much of this area encompasses what is known as the Antrim Glens and Hills. Indeed the Glens have been recognised as unique in Northern Ireland and have been designated an 'Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty'. They include a fifty mile shoreline, forests, open grasslands, peat bogs and mountain uplands rich in history and culture. A long history of settlement and war is marked in the landscape by prehistoric stone tombs, churches, castles as well as the more recent mills and workshops of the last century

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Feeding time

Despite seasonal tourism, the area is still rural in nature and agriculture and forestry are major employers. Smaller, increasingly less viable livestock enterprises also predominate in the more northern region of the The North Antrim Community Network area, while the more southern limits of the network are somewhat more prosperous in terms of farm size/viability and in local employment opportunities.

The Local Economy

Farming

Farming has always dominated the economy of North Antrim and the many small hill farms in the area are a result of the process of bequeathing farms and giving sons equal shares. Like the rest of Northern Ireland, North Antrim has experienced a decrease in the number of farm households since 1980 while at the same time there has also been a decrease in the agricultural workforce. Farming is predominately sheep and cattle with lamb production accounting for almost half of the total agricultural output. Farm size varies i.e. in the Glens region the average farm is in the region of 20 hectares. Diary farming is more prevalent in the council areas of Ballymoney and Ballymena particularly on more fertile lowland farms.

Forestry and Fishing

Much of the higher mountainous land is not suitable for farming, it consists largely of peat bogs and in recent years an extensive afforestation programme has been undertaken. Employment in forestry has almost doubled over the last ten years and local groups believe that there is considerable untapped potential in this area. Employment from fishing in the area is minimal. While the harbours are used by outside crews, there is a limited tradition of sea fishing in the Glens/North Antrim region.

Fishing in the Irish Sea

Industry

There is little tradition of manufacturing industry in the Glens. While the local construction industry employs a number of people, this is relatively small scale. Development initiatives by LEDU and IDB have been targeted at the area and there is increasing interest in enterprise assistance schemes. Most of the local population do not see the introduction of large manufacturing industry as an option for future development. There is general agreement that future development must be derived from the local resource base. The larger towns of Ballymena, Ballymoney and Larne act as the main market/administrative centres and much of the employment opportunities and manufacturing base in the region is located within close proximity to these centres.

Tourism

It seems likely that tourism will be one of the cornerstone of future development. While the area has many unique features and places of interest for visitors, there is general agreement that it has failed to capitalise fully on it's unique natural and historic characteristics.

For example the recent 'Glens of Antrim Tourism Study' commissioned by the Moyle Council agreed that it was quite clear that for much of the area investment tourism attractions was badly needed (1). It advocated 'a deliberate, moderated, dispersed and low key process of development' and stressed the importance of 'developing and gaining local support and action'. The Report pointed to the fundamental conclusion that it was the 'local people themselves that must be the originators of local scale initiatives, whether as individuals or through members of community groups'.