Ballina named Ireland's Best Kept Large Town

BALLINA has been crowned Ireland’s Best Kept Large Town 2018 in the Best Kept Tidy Towns Awards.

The awards are a result of collaboration between the Northern Ireland initiative Best Kept Awards partnered with its southern counterpart Tidy Towns, and the ceremoney was held yesterday (Tuesday) at the Harbour Commissions Office in Belfast with delegates from towns and villages all over the island of Ireland.

Hugh Rouse, president of Ballina Chamber of Commerce, stated: “On behalf of the business community of Ballina, I would like to congratulate Jim Friel, chairperson of Ballina Tidy Towns, the Tidy Towns committee and Tidy Towns CE supervisor Michael Conlon, the CE participants, and all involved in bringing this prestigious and highly sought after award to Ballina.

“This award is a further endorsement of how far Ballina has come in terms of its presentation for visitors and locals to enjoy, how proud we are as a town in keeping our space clean, and how we want to be perceived throughout the country. As a community we must continue to support the hard work of the team behind this award and keep Ballina clean.”

All entrants were marked against strict adjudication criteria that included cleanliness, the outward appearance of buildings, the presentation of roads and public facilities, and the natural environment.

Ballina beat off competition from Armagh and Monaghan to be crowned Ireland’s Best Kept Large Town.

Ireland’s Best Kept Towns competition has been running since 1995. The Northern Ireland Amenity Council initiated the competition in 1995 to help raise the profile of both the Tidy Towns and Northern Ireland’s Best Kept competitions, and so help to improve the standard of towns and villages across the island of Ireland.

The competition is now run by the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Amenity Council in Northern Ireland, and is based on participation in the Tidy Towns competition.