Agenda and minutes

            Apologies for inability to attend were reported on behalf of Councillors Graham and Nicholl.

            The minutes of the meeting of 13th February were taken as read and signed as correct.  It was reported that those minutes had been adopted by the Council at its meeting on 4th March.

Councillors Hussey and O’Donnell declared an interest in relation to item 2a, Visit Belfast Business Plan 2019/20, in that they had been appointed by the Council to the Board of Visit Belfast, and remained in the room whilst the matter was under consideration.

                        The Director of Economic Development submitted for the Committee’s consideration the following report:

“1.0     Purpose of Report or Summary of Main Issues

1.1            The purpose of the report is to present the request for funding from Visit Belfast for the 2019/20 financial year and to set out the organisation’s strategic plan, focused on increasing visitor numbers and tourism spend in the city. Visit Belfast will be in attendance at the Committee meeting to present the detail of its 2019/20 plan.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       The Committee is requested to:

                                          i.          note the draft Visit Belfast business plan 2019/20 and the areas where Council funds will be invested.  The overall funding requirement for Visit Belfast in the coming financial year has been taken account of in the revenue estimates that have already been approved by the Council; and

                                        ii.          approve the funding allocation of up to £1,997,500 for 2019/20 expenditure, subject to the development of a funding agreement establishing priority areas of activity and agreed targets.

3.0       Main Report

3.1       Members will be aware that Visit Belfast is the principal Destination Management and Marketing Organisation for the city of Belfast. Visit Belfast leads on the tourism marketing activities in Belfast.  It is a membership organisation with more than 500 member businesses across the wider hospitality industry.  Visit Belfast works, on behalf of its members, with a range of public and private partners such as the Belfast Chamber and the Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) to promote Belfast as a tourism destination. 

3.2       Visit Belfast targets both the leisure and business tourism markets.  It has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with ICC Belfast to drive new business to the city.  There have been significant successes in this field and business events and conferences taking place in the city in this financial year are projected to deliver a return of around £60 million.

3.3       Visit Belfast is a public/private partnership.  Its current Chairman is Howard Hastings OBE from the Hastings Hotel Group.  Belfast City Council has four Councillor representatives on the Board: Councillor Arder Carson, Councillor John Hussey, Councillor Kate Nicholl and Councillor Mairead O’ Donnell.

3.4       The tourism and hospitality industry in Belfast continues to go from strength to strength.  Belfast continues to drive the regional tourism economy; in 2017 (last published Local Government District tourism statistics by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency), Belfast hosted 30% of all tourism trips to Northern Ireland (1.4m trips) and tourism spend amounted to £328m, 35% of Northern Ireland tourism spend.

3.5       Forecasts suggest that the sector will account for around 15% of new jobs in the coming decade.  While it currently accounts for only 5% of the regional GDP, in many other locations, this is more than 10% of the GDP.  This illustrates the potential for additional growth within the sector.  One of the key growth areas is in hotel accommodation: over the past twenty years, annual hotel room sales increased by 314%, from 324,000 hotel rooms sold in 1999 to 1.34m in 2018. Visitor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The Committee approved a request from the Chief Executive of the Now Project to attend a future meeting in order to review the work of that organisation.

Restriction of ReportsThe information contained in the reports associated with the following two items is restricted in accordance with Part 1 of Schedule 6 of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014.

            Resolved – That the Committee agrees to exclude the members of the Press and public from the Committee meeting during discussion of the items as, due to the nature of the items, there would be a disclosure of exempt information as described in Section 42(4) and Section 6 of the Local Government Act (NI) 2014.

            A Member highlighted the fact that the recent series of Committee reports on the Belfast Zoo had been restricted and sought clarification on the rationale surrounding that decision and on the restriction of reports generally.

            In response, the Strategic Director of City and Neighbourhood Services explained that the Corporate Management Team had sought advice around the restriction of reports, with a view to providing clarity around the process. In terms of the Zoo, reports had been restricted primarily on the basis that they had contained commercially sensitive information, in the context of discussions around its future development, or in response to concerns which had been raised around the potential impact on staff, following recent high profile incidents.              

(Mr. N. Grimshaw, Strategic Director of City and Neighbourhood Services, and Mr. A. Cairns, Zoo Manager, attended in connection with this item.)

The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 13th February, it had agreed that a report be submitted to its next meeting on the outcome of an independent review of security at the Belfast Zoo, following a number of recent incidents.

The Strategic Director of City and Neighbourhood Services reported that the review, which had been undertaken from 17th till 19th February, had focused primarily on Category 1 animal enclosures, on all enclosures utilising electric fencing and on assessing keeper procedures and general animal operations. The resulting report had confirmed that the necessary policies and procedures were in place and that the standard of maintenance was adequate to allow the Zoo to remain open. However, it had made a number of recommendations aimed at making the recording, inspection and routine maintenance programme more robust and had identified routine maintenance works to be undertaken across a number of enclosures, together with some immediate improvement and replacement works. It had highlighted also the capacity of Zoo keeping staff and the time available to them to complete safety checks and assess the condition and security of enclosures.

He explained that officers had since categorised the recommendations contained within the consultant’s report and, accordingly, he sought the Committee’s approval to implement the following short (immediate) and medium term actions:

Short Term (Immediate)

·             conclude the arrangements and Memorandum of Understanding for the  establishment of the Dangerous Animals Response Team;

·             arrange for the inspection of vegetation across all enclosures and for it to be cut back by Parks staff, where required;

·             expand the management team arrangement at the Zoo to include regular input from those sections of the Council which were involved in the management of the site;

·             seek approval to employ a dedicated temporary (6-12 month resource) to focus upon immediate Zoo maintenance, electric fence monitoring and enclosure inspections; and

·             establish and secure the capital costs associated with the recommendations for improvement/replacement works.

Medium Term

·             review and further develop the internal Service Level Agreements and ongoing maintenance arrangements for the Zoo, moving forward; and

·             agree and implement the programme for the roll-out of the improvement/replacements works identified within the consultant’s report.

After discussion, the Committee:

                                      i.           noted the independent consultant’s report on security at the Zoo and the recommendations contained therein;

                                     ii.           approved the implementation of the short and medium term recommendations, including the employment of a temporary dedicated maintenance resource;

                                    iii.           noted that a review of future maintenance staffing requirements would be undertaken whilst the temporary resource was in place; and

                                   iv.           noted that it would, at a future meeting,  receive a report on the outcome of that review, together with details of the overall costs associated with the implementation of the consultant’s recommendations.

(Alderman McGimpsey in the Chair.)

The City Regeneration and DevelopmentLead Officer reminded the Committee that the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee, at its meeting on 22nd February, had considered a report in relation to the City Centre Recovery Programme. The report had reviewed the impact of Phase 1 of the programme and had outlined the key strands of work which would underpin Phase 2, namely, physical and environmental enhancements, an animation programme, incentivisation and trader support, marketing and communications, creative input and programme delivery support and research/retail.  The Committee had approved a budget of £2.505m for Phase 2, up until March, 2020. 

She reported that, in response to requests from Members of this Committee, a footfall monitor was being installed in Castle Street and that other routes leading into the City centre were being considered. She added that the junction between Castle Street and Fountain Street had re-opened on 27th February and that Castle Street would, from 26th March, open fully for pedestrians. That would, she pointed out, allow those businesses which had been closed following the Primark fire to re-open.  

After discussion, the Committee noted:

                           i.          the decision of the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee of 22nd February to approve funding of £2.505m for the key strands of activity to be taken forward as part of Phase 2 of the City Recovery Programme;

                         ii.          that it would receive further updates as the overall programme and specific proposals were developed; and

                        iii.          that the Council would continue to undertake expenditure on behalf of the Treasury and Northern Ireland Civil Service Departments.

The Director of Economic Development submitted for the Committee’s consideration the following report:

“1.0     Purpose of Report or Summary of Main Issues

1.1         The purpose of this report is to seek approval for the proposed programme of work to be delivered in the 2019/20 financial year as part of the Committee’s ambitions to support delivery of the targets under the Growing the Economy pillar of the Belfast Agenda. 

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       The Committee is asked to:

                                            i.        note the Council’s performance and contribution to delivering against Belfast Agenda ambitions to grow the Belfast economy, focusing on Starting a Business; Growing a Business and Investing in Belfast;

                                           ii.        note that the associated activity will support the creation of up to 957 jobs in the course of the year;

                                         iii.        approve the 2019/20 Work Plan to support the delivery of these ambitions, as set out in sections 3.4 to 3.9, including the associated budget commitment of £1,342,075 (excluding Innovation Factory costs); and

                                         iv.        approve the proposed approach to requests for financial contributions to support conferences and events aligned with the Economic Development Unit’s profile of activity. To be administered in-line with the the delegated authority granted to the Director of Economic Development and Strategic Director of Place and Economy Department.

3.0       Main Report

3.1       Members will be aware that, at the City Growth and Regeneration Committee meeting on 11th April, 2018, approval was given for the delivery of the Growing the Economy work plan for the current financial year. The work plan was developed as part of the Council‘s contribution towards the commitments identified under this theme within the Belfast Agenda.

3.2       Since April 2018, the Council has developed and delivered a range of activities to address the challenges around low levels of start-up, innovation, competitiveness and productivity.  Whilst work is ongoing to deliver the 2018/19 work plan, key achievements to date include:

-      770 individuals engaged through Enterprise Awareness activates this year, providing them support and guidance to start a business or social enterprise

-      By the end of January 2019, we had supported 311 individuals through the Go For It programme  supporting the creation of 196 jobs

-      Through our Go Social programme, we have supported 32 Social Enterprises and Co-operatives, creating 31 jobs

-      We provided support for 60 university/FE college student entrepreneurs to develop their new businesses while still in education.  We also launched a new initiative providing grant assistance to programme participants in partnership with Invest NI which aims to provide a salary and wrap around support for one year to enable them to start their business

-      We successfully launched high growth start-up support which has to date engaged 64 new high growth businesses based in Belfast

-      We continue to support the Innovation Factory (IF): occupancy levels are forecast at 55% by end of March 2019 representing representing approximately 249 jobs across 40 offices and 22 dedicated desks (excluding 22 business members and virtual office users). Through its social regeneration programme, IF has facilitated 60  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

The Committee considered the following report:

“1.0     Purpose of Report/Summary of Main Issues

1.1       The purpose of this report is to seek approval for a programme of work to be delivered in the 2019/20 financial year under the Working and Learning pillar of the Belfast Agenda. 

1.2       The proposed work programme supports the inclusive growth ambitions of the Council by addressing barriers to progression, focusing on educational underachievement and supporting residents to access employment and/or upskilling opportunities.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       The Committee is requested to:

                                            i.           approve the 2019/20 Work Plan and associated budget of £1,280,491 to support the delivery of the Working and Learning strands of the Belfast Agenda, as summarised in section 3.5; and

                                           ii.           note the ongoing development work being undertaken with key partners through governance structures including; the Belfast Agenda Working and Learning Board, BRCD Employability and Skills Steering Group and Employability NI Programme Board.

3.0       Main Report

3.1       Members will be aware that, at the Committee meeting on 11th April 2018, approval was given for a series of activities under the Working and Learning pillar of the Belfast Agenda.  At that meeting, members agreed a number of guiding principles of the Council’s investment in this area of work including:

-        Employment-led: focusing upon identified employment opportunities and gaps in provision;

-        Needs-led: in order to deliver against the principles of Inclusive Growth, targeting interventions towards geographical areas and/or underrepresented groups while being accessible and open to all;

-        Ambitious: to increase visibility and awareness of Council’s role within the environment and strategically build our position in this area;

-        Intelligence-led and evidence based: ensuring that our investment in based on a sound rationale;

-        Adding value: ensuring we do not duplicate existing provision;

-        Flexible: allowing for interventions to be developed around emerging market needs/opportunities; and

-        Scalable: delivered seamlessly across the City, in line with need and opportunity – trying out new solutions on a pilot basis and increasing their coverage if they have a positive impact. 

3.2       Whilst work is ongoing to deliver the 2018/19 work plan, key achievements on track to be achieved include:

-           Over 2,750 participant engaged in employability programmes, with more than 800 expected to progress into employment this year

-           Over 3,500 young people supported through youth initiatives

-           Almost 7,500 participants engaged through career events and job fairs. 

3.3       Some of the key activities undertaken include:

-             Employment Academies: we have extended this employer-led initiative to include new sectors providing a broader spectrum of employment opportunities to local residents.  Across the 18/19 financial year around 500 residents have or will participate in academies, and it is expected at least 350 will progress into employment.  Sectors currently engaged through these academies include hospitality and tourism, transportation, childcare, health and social care and construction.  Although these academies are principally focused on helping the unemployed into employment, officers have also been exploring how we can support upskilling into higher-level employment opportunities.  As an example of this work, we  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

The Director of Economic Development submitted for the Committee’s consideration the following report:

“1.0     Purpose of Report or Summary of Main Issues

1.1       The purpose of this report is to:

-       update the Committee on the delivery of the International Relations Framework focusing on activity over the 6 months since October; 2018 and

-       seek approval for the delivery of the 2019/2020 Action Plan and associated budgets.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       The Committee is requested to:

                                          i.          note the range of activity and associated outputs of International Relations actions over the course of the second half of this financial year; and

                                        ii.          agree the International Relations Action Plan outlining activity commitments for 2019/2020, as set out in sections 3.8 – 3.24.

3.0       Main Report

3.1       Members will recall the November 2016 approval of a new International Relations Framework for the period 2016 - 2021.

3.2       The aim of this Framework is to continue to promote Belfast on the international stage as a place to invest, work, visit and study. The Framework is delivering primarily on the formal relationships already in existence through our Sister City Agreements with Shenyang, Boston and Nashville, the Memorandum of Understanding with Dublin, and developing relationships with the City of London. New areas of opportunity will be considered on their merits and relevance to Belfast.

3.3       Members will be aware that, at the Committee meeting on 10th October, an update report on International Relations activity for the previous six months was presented and the outline plans for the coming period were set out for endorsement.  This report provides an update on the activities and associated outcomes over the six-month period from October 2018 to March 2019, and outlines an Action Plan for international activity and associated costs for 2019/2020.  A number of the activities are still under development and further updates or requests for approval may be brought back to the Committee for information and endorsement in the course of the year. 

3.4       The International Relations activity set out in this report focuses principally on our established relationships with our Sister Cities and partner cities.  The Council is also involved in a range of additional engagement activity in international markets.  These include:

-            Support for Visit Belfast to promote the city as a vibrant tourism destination for both leisure and business tourists.  The Council investment in additional conference and exhibition space at Belfast ICC has meant that the venue is now able to attract additional national and international conferences and events – thereby increasing visitor numbers from new markets

-            Promoting the city for international real estate investment: a Council-led delegation will take part in the annual European property investment showcase in Cannes in March 2019 – MIPIM.  The public-private partnership will promote the city as an investment location, focusing on attracting both investors and end-users in the key FDI sectors as well as hospitality and international education and training opportunities

-            Supporting local companies to export and develop an international presence: Members will be aware  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

The Committee was informed that the HMS Caroline Preservation Company had submitted an application for a Markets Licence to enable it to hold a Maritime Festival Makers Market in the HMS Caroline car park, Alexandra Wharf, Queen’s Road.

The Director of Development explained that the market, which would be held from 24th till 26th May, as part of the Belfast Maritime Festival, would increase footfall around the Titanic Quarter and would complement the wider festival and programmme of animation being delivered currently in the City. It was anticipated that there would be between thirty and forty stalls at the event and the organisers would, in advance, be required to submit the relevant documentation and details of its operational plan. Those would be assessed by Council officers, who would also undertake inspections over the duration of the market.

The Committee agreed to grant the Markets Licence.

The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 9th January, it had been informed that the Department for Communities had invited councils across Northern Ireland to administer its Access and Inclusion Capital Programme, which sought to improve access to arts and cultural activities by people with disabilities. £750,000 had been allocated in total to the programme and applicants could, on the basis of demonstrable need and potential impact, secure funding of up to £30,000.

The Director of Development reported that the Committee had approved the Council’s participation in the programme and confirmed that twenty-two applications had been received by the deadline date of 18th January. Eligible projects had been ranked by a panel of Council officers against an agreed set of criteria, with the following applicants being awarded funding from the programme to complete their projects by 31st March, 2019:

The Committee noted the information which had been provided.

The Committee considered a report which set out the financial position of the City Growth and Regeneration Committee for the third quarter of 2018/2019. The report confirmed that there had, during that period, been an underspend of £172,000, with a year-end underspend of £55,000 being forecast. The underspend could be attributed primarily to staffing costs resulting from vacant posts across a number of services and to reduced expenditure on programme costs and premises costs.

          The Committee noted the information which had been provided.  

The Committee agreed that a special meeting be held at 5.15 p.m. on Monday, 8th April, to receive an update on the strategic study for the Cave Hill Country Park and on the development proposals for the North Foreshore.