Residents 'stonewalled' over questions about Bangor's £1.3m sculpture

Rosemary Howell is a member of the North Down residents group

Some North Down residents claim to have been "stonewalled" when asking questions about a £1.3m sculpture project in Bangor.

The Bangor Waterfront Art Installation is to be part of the redevelopment of Bangor seafront, but some residents have questioned the cost of the sculptures and how they were commissioned.

Unlike some other public art projects commissioned by councils in Northern Ireland, there was no public competition or tender for the Bangor installation.

Ards and North Down Borough Council (ANDBC) said that "in discussion with the principal funder, the Department for Communities, the council decided to commission Colin Davidson via direct award".

The Department for Communities (DfC) said that "the procurement route taken by the council was in compliance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015".

The Bangor Waterfront Art Installation is to be part of the redevelopment of Bangor seafront

What are the sculptures?

According to a press release from the DfC in March, the Bangor Waterfront Art Installation will be a series of three sculptures.

The main piece will be "a six-metre-tall set of hands entitled 'Hope Returning'," in bronze, with two smaller sculptures located at Pickie Park and Eisenhower Pier.

The smaller sculptures will be of hands creating the shape of a crab and a swan.

Each piece will also include a QR code linking people to information and stories of the area.

The three pieces will be created and made by artist Davidson, who lives in the Bangor.

Mr Davidson is a well-known visual artist and also made the bust of Senator George Mitchell outside Queen's University Belfast.

According to DfC, the total cost of the installations is estimated to be in the region of £1.287m, of which DfC will contribute £1.05m.

The remainder of the funding - more than £200,000 - will be met by ANDBC

Some residents from the Ards and North Down Resident's Voice group have questioned how the contract for the sculptures was awarded.

What questions do the residents have?

Rosemary Howell from the resident's group claimed they had been "stonewalled" when asking questions about the sculptures.

"We've tried to make the council, and council officers and councillors accountable," she said.

"We really have not been given any satisfactory answers.

"We don't have an issue with the artist but why was there no tender? And why therefore was there no competition for this?

"I think it is lovely that there is artwork going for Bangor.

"But we're ratepayers, it's our money."

Joyce Craig is also a member of the resident's group

Joyce Craig, who is also in the group, said the rates in the council area had gone up by almost 6% in 2024-25 and 3.65% in 2025-26.

"When we've seen other pieces of artwork go up around Northern Ireland, it's all gone to tender," she told BBC News NI.

"So it gives artists in the whole of Northern Ireland, and various other places, the opportunity to be honoured to put a piece of artwork up in their local town, to be there forever.

"So when we realised that this, for some reason, didn't go to tender, we couldn't understand why Ards and North Down Borough Council were different to other councils?"

Ian Jordan from Newtownards told BBC News NI that "there's a general concern that the ratepayer isn't being acknowledged in what they're paying into the council and how the money is being spent, whether it's being spent judiciously or not".

"The council's own constitution talks about engaging with the public and stakeholders and the rest of that political speak and nobody feels as if the public have been engaged on any sort of level at all in relation to how this sculpture has come about to be considered," he continued.

"Any time we've made approaches to the council we feel as if we're being stonewalled."

Public art in Northern Ireland

Some other large-scale public art installations commissioned by councils in Northern Ireland were put out to tender.

That includes the Rise installation, known as "the balls on the Falls," advertised for competition by Belfast City Council in 2008.

The Nottingham-based artist Wolfgang Buttress was selected to make the piece from over 40 competing submissions.

According to Belfast City Council, Rise cost £486,000, with £330,000 coming from the then Department for Social Development, £100,000 from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland - via Lottery funding - and £56,000 from Belfast City Council.

More recently, an artwork to remember local shirt factory workers in Londonderry's Harbour Square was also advertised for tender by Derry City and Strabane District Council in 2022.

The artwork was tendered for £190,000 as part of an overall £1.3m redevelopment of Harbour Square.

Some former shirt factory workers have been critical of the finished piece.

Ian Jordan says there is "a general concern that the ratepayer isn't being acknowledged"

Council and Stormont response

BBC News NI also put a series of questions to the council and the department about the process.

The department said: "Ards and North Down Borough Council identified the opportunity to work with the artist, Colin Davidson, and approached the Department for grant funding assistance of £1.05m to support the delivery of an iconic art project for Bangor".

"While the procurement exercise is a matter for Ards and North Down Borough Council, the Department did seek advice from the Department of Finance on this matter.

"Regulation 32 (2) (b) (i) of The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 allows for the direct procurement of a unique piece of art."

That regulation allows an authority to award a contract for "acquisition of a unique work of art or artistic performance" without prior publication.

'Extremely exciting project'

The department said the council had published "a Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency (VEAT) notice on the 'Find a Tender' national portal," on 1 March 2024.

A Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice (VEAT) is a notice published by a contracting authority to announce a decision to award a contract without first having published a tender notice.

In response to BBC News NI, ANDBC said they had "identified an opportunity to secure the services of blue-chip artist Colin Davidson".

They also said the council funding was "from our capital reserves fund (underspends from various service budgets in previous years) and therefore there is no additional cost to the ratepayers from this project".

"In discussion with the principal funder, the Department for Communities, the council decided to commission Colin Davidson via direct award," the council said.

"As such no public competition was held, however a VEAT notice (Voluntary Ex-Ante Transparency Notice) was published on the e-tenders national portal to alert any alternative suppliers that the Council intended to award the proposed contract.

"This allowed 30 days for anyone wishing to challenge, to do so.

"No challenges were submitted."

The council has also put information on the "art-led regeneration" of Bangor on the council website.

"It is anticipated that the three artworks will be assembled and installed by Summer 2026," the council said.

"This is an extremely exciting project for Bangor."

When approached by BBC News NI, Davidson said he had decided not to make any comment.