NI coast projects given more than £800,000 funding

Projects along the coastline have received money

Nine projects along the Northern Ireland coast have been given government funding worth more than £800,000.

The projects will create 55 direct jobs and could attract an additional £500,000 from public and private sources.

The projects stretch from Limavady in the north west to Newcastle, County Down.

It is hoped they can lead to the creation of a further 212 jobs.

The projects got money from the Coastal Communities Fund.

It is financed from the UK government by income generated from the management of the Crown Estate's marine assets.

That includes income from licensing off-shore wind farms, seabed cabling and marine sand and gravel extraction.

Funding of between £50,000 and £100,000 went to projects that would lead to regeneration and economic growth while safeguarding or creating jobs.

Projects on Rathlin Island also received funding

A project to provide hot-desk office space for business start-ups in Limavady got £100,000.

The same amount of money went to a project to provide a picnic spot and beach access at Ballywalter Lime Kilns.

Projects on Rathlin Island, a community garden in Newcastle and a social enterprise pottery in Crawfordsburn that supports people with learning difficulties into employment were also funded.

Claire Vincent, acting director of Marine and Fisheries Division with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs congratulated the successful applicants.

She said it would fund a wide range of projects that have been designed and developed by local people and which will "create jobs and improve lives, which is consistent with the programme's objective that "coastal communities will experience regeneration and economic growth".