Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2014-04-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will take steps to ensure the negotiations between her Department and Praxis result in the continuation of the Secret Garden Service provided by that organisation.

Mrs Theresa Villiers

The decision to invite Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) to take over management of Hillsborough Castle will provide a secure future for the castle and bring considerable economic benefits to the surrounding area.

To deliver those benefits, HRP need control of the site currently used by Praxis in order to construct the infrastructure necessary to enable substantial visitor numbers to be welcomed to Hillsborough.

The terms of Praxis’ use of the Walled Garden site were always clear that they would need to leave if given one month’s notice. Praxis confirmed over a year ago that they would leave if given one month’s notice.