Agenda and minutes

            Apologies for inability to attend were reported from Councillors Attwood and C. Maskey.

            The minutes of the meeting of 12th December were taken as read and signed as correct.  It was reported that those minutes had been adopted by the Council at its meeting on 7th January, subject to:

(i)      the amendment of the decision under the heading “Belfast Welcome Centre and the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau Business Plan” to provide that that portion of the decision which referred to the provision of an additional amount of £500,000 for marketing and visitor servicing by the Bureau be deferred to enable discussions to be held between Council officials and representatives of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board with a view to that organisation providing a contribution to the operating costs of the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau, in recognition of the fact that for many visitors Belfast acted as a gateway to the Province; and

(ii)     the amendment of the decision under the heading “Broadway Junction Public Art” to provide that the Greater Village Regeneration Trust and the St. James Forum be represented also on the Project Board established to implement the Scheme.

            (Mr. T. Salmon, Director of Corporate Services, attended in connection with this item.)

            The Committee considered a report which had been prepared by the Director of Corporate Services in respect of the Estimates of Revenue Expenditure for the Year 2008/2009.  A copy of that section of the report in so far as it applied specifically to the Development Committee is set out hereunder:

      “A spending limit of £23,796,450 is recommended for the Development Department in respect of the financial year 2008/09.  Excluding capital charges of £1,326,950 this represents an increase of 10.64% over last year.

The main budgetary intentions of the Department for next year are set out below:

      In line with other Departments, increased costs of £213,840 must be borne in respect of superannuation.  Capital charges have reduced from £1,422,710 in 2007/08 to £1,326,950 in 2008/09. 

      The National Agreement on Single Status is now effective. As the actual consequence of changing Terms and Conditions of employment are now known, an additional £214,500 has been added to the Estimates of the Waterfront Hall.

      There are a number of areas where significant change has occurred from last year.

      The majority of the annual tourism budget continues to be ‘contracted out’ to the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau for marketing Belfast and providing information to visitors at the Belfast Welcome Centre and Tourist Information Centres at the City and International Airports.  The Council has agreed to uplift its funding of the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau.  The impact of this decision on the Estimates is almost £500,000.

      The Department will also incur increased costs of £190,800 for a number of new posts. Of this sum £75,000 relates to Policy Officer and European Officer posts which are no longer funded by the new LED Plan. To support the implementation of SNAP a new Citystats Officer is required at a cost of £39,100. This is a statistician post and is required to validate and quality assure the internal data which will be input into the Citystats software. An additional £36,700 is included for a Public Arts post to develop the Council’s capacity in the areas of Public Art and Festivals. An additional £40,000 is required within the unit to provide for the transfer of the EU Officer budget from Health & Environmental Services and the creation of a third EU Officer Post to work on a joint basis with Corporate Services.

      An additional £50,000 has been included to further promote and establish Open Air Markets within the City.

      There are a number of areas of growth within the Departmental budget.

      The Tall Ships 2009 event will require £1.1m of funding over the next two years. Funding of £400,000 is included in the 2008/09 budget. The Civic Events programme includes an additional £100,000 for the World Irish Dancing Championships. Further growth of £100,000 is also included with regard a Policy and Resources Committee decision in March  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“Relevant Background Information

      At a meeting of the Development Committee on 12 December 2007, Members agreed to receive a presentation from representatives of Belfast City Centre Management on their draft Business and Operation Plan for 2008/2009. 

      In 2007 executive changes took place with the appointment of Mr Billy McGivern as Chairman of the BCCM Board, and Mr Andrew Irvine as City Centre Manager.

      Under its new management team, Belfast City Centre Management Company has repositioned itself, the Company’s initiatives and operating plans are now centred on:

‘delivering additional services into Belfast city centre, on behalf of its core funders, which contribute in a measurable way to a cleaner, safer and more accessible city.’

      A copy of the BCCM 2008/2009 Operating Plan has been circulated to the Committee.       

Key Issues

      The City Centre Manager reports that some existing BCCM initiatives have been extremely successful, including the ‘Retail Crimewatch Scheme’.  This scheme in 3 years has delivered a 51% reduction in stock loss due to retail crime (shoplifting), saving and estimated £8.2m of stock. BCCM are now keen to extend this scheme to cover juveniles, who are responsible for 36% of retail crime in BelfastCity Centre.

      The success of BCCM’s Safer City initiatives has placed pressure on BCCM’s small administrative resources.

      The work of BCCM, which is presented in detail in the Operating Plan, covers three areas of work:

-     Delivering Direct city centre services:

      BCCM will deliver its own services, which add value to the city centre, e.g. City Centre Representatives, City Beat Policing, Radiolink, City Safe Crimewatch scheme.

-     Facilitating and assisting in the delivery of our fundersCity Centre    Initiatives:

      BCCM will work ‘on the street’ (when requested and as directed) to assist with initiatives such as the Evening Economy, Independent Retail Training, Retail Benchmarking and Gap analysis, Belfast in Bloom, Waste Management and Streets Ahead.

-     Direct liaison with City Centre Businesses:

      BCCM will provide strong communication links between the private sector businesses in the city centre and central and local government.

      In order to deliver the specific targets provided in the 2008/2009 Operating Plan, BCCM has put in place a structured programme of Retail Forums, Area Focus Groups and Activity Working Groups to support the ‘on the ground’ work of the City Centre Representatives and City Beat Police Officers.  BCCM report that additional resources are needed to deliver the appended plan for two reasons:

1.   Existing operational staff are being utilised for administrative duties when they are sorely needed on operational business liaison duties.

2.   With the opening of Victoria Square on 6 March 2008 the retail floor plate of the City Centre will increase by over 30%, representing some 200 new retail businesses.

      In order to fully implement the business and programme activity of the 2008/2009 Operational Plan additional human and financial resources will be required. Specifically BCCM needs 3 additional City Centre Representatives for business liaison, 2 administrative assistants to support Board, Area  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

            The Director informed the Committee that Sustrans Northern Ireland was seeking to obtain funding through the Interreg 4A Programme to provide a high quality link between Northern Ireland and the National Cycle Networks in Great Britain and in the Republic of Ireland.  The organisation was aiming to provide a number of strategic long distance routes and crucial links in infrastructure in order to facilitate and improve cycle access between the three countries.

            Sustrans had estimated that the various projects would cost in the region of £8,154,500 and was seeking 75% of this amount through the Interreg Programme.  The organisation intended to secure the remaining amount from a number of organisations, including those local authorities which would benefit directly from the new cycling infrastructure.  She indicated that, since none of the proposed projects would be located within Belfast, Sustrans would not be requesting financial assistance from the Council.  However, the organisation had requested that the Council endorse formally the application for funding under the Interreg 4A Programme and she recommended that the Committee agree to this.

            The Committee agreed to endorse the Sustrans application for Interreg 4A funding.  In addition, the Committee agreed that the Council endeavour to ensure that the relevant responsible organisations make the upgrading of the cycling infrastructure within the City a priority.

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“Relevant Background Information

      Attached (Appendix 1) is a letter received on 20 December 2007 regarding the transfer of Community Festivals Funding to Local Authorities.  This funding was previously administered through the Northern Ireland Events Company on behalf of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL).

      The letter indicates a transfer of funds totalling £450,000 to Local Authorities for funding of Community Festivals in local authority areas. It is indicated that under the proposed mechanism for distribution of funds Belfast will receive £77,300 which is 17.17% of the fund.

      The Council has in the past considered proposals to develop the potential of Belfast as a City of Festivals. A Festival Policy was adopted by Council in October 2004 and options for a specific festivals fund have been explored.

      Belfast as Northern Ireland's creative and cultural hub has a larger number of festivals based events than other parts of Northern Ireland. This includes a large number of ethnic festival and other community festivals which draw from a catchment area for audiences and participants from well beyond the local authority boundaries. This has been reflected in the allocation of funds administered under the Community Festivals Fund in previous years by the Northern Ireland Events Company who had allocated approximately 50% of the total fund within the Belfast Local Authority area.

Key Issues

      There are several issues which are of concern regarding the proposed distribution of funds:

1.   There is no proposed transfer of funds to local authorities for staffing resources to support the distribution of funding. The total resources allocated to the Northern Ireland Event s Company for the fund in 2006/7 was £550,000 which included administrative costs of £100,000 and covered the employment of a Manager and two Community Festivals Officers.

2.   Members will be aware that in order to ensure funding is in place for April 2008 funding schemes would normally be advertised in October/November 2007. Full details and a Letter of Offer on the transfer of funding has not yet been received. There is therefore unlikely to be adequate time to ensure funding applications can be assessed, processed and made available by April 2008.

3.   It is a condition of the monies that Local Authorities will be required to contribute match funding to support community festivals. If the full level of match funding is not made DCAL will retain any surplus funds. It has, however been indicated that, in the first instance, Culture and Arts/ Good Relations funding administered under existing criteria would be eligible as match funds. There may, however, be a requirement to source additional fund for the scheme from Council sources.

4.   It is anticipated that there will be considerable demand for the Community Festival Fund within the Belfast area. Belfast has over 50 cultural festivals including regional events plus additional sporting festivals.  The allocation of £77,300 to Belfast is considerably less than the awards made through the NIEC within the Belfast area in previous year.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

            The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 18th September, 2007, it had agreed to provide a sum of £300,000 towards the costs associated with the hosting in Belfast in 2011 of the World Transplant Games, subject to the bid being successful and to an approved business plan being completed.

            The Head of Economic Initiatives reported that the Local Organising Committee for the Belfast Bid had been provided with an amount of £25,000 towards the costs which would be associated with making the bid.  This figure had been based on information received from the Canadian city which had hosted the 2005 Games.  However, it had been ascertained recently that this amount would be insufficient due to additional costs associated with:

(i)      the production of a high quality bid document;

(ii)     hotel accommodation in Bangkok in August, 2007 which had to be rebooked at short notice when the original hotel had cancelled the reservation;

(iii)    a visit to Belfast in February by a delegation from the World Transplant Games Federation; and

(iv)    sending representatives to Brisbane in June to make a further presentation.

Accordingly, the Local Organising Committee had requested that all the organisations involved in the Belfast Bid provide further financial resources and had sought an additional £5,000 from the Council.

            After discussion, the Committee agreed that a further sum of £5,000 be provided towards the costs associated with the Belfast Bid for the 2011 World Transplant Games, on the understanding that, should the bid be successful, this amount be deducted from the £300,000 which the Committee had agreed to provide towards the costs associated with the hosting of the Games.

            The Managing Director of the Belfast Waterfront and Ulster Halls informed the Committee that, as part of the refurbishment of the Ulster Hall, the Carey Paintings, which depicted the history and mythology of the Belfast region and were located within the building, were being restored.

            He reported that the procurement process to appoint a conservator to undertake the restoration was underway.  In order to have this work completed as soon as possible, he recommended that authority be delegated to the Director, in consultation with the Chairman, to appoint the successful tenderer immediately on completion of the Procurement Process.

            The Committee adopted the recommendation.

            The Committee noted the contents of the undernoted report:

“Relevant Background Information

      Members will be aware that the Council’s Economic Development work has, to date, been co-funded by the European Union through Structural Funds programmes.  Given changes within these programmes, the application processes, funding priorities and financial allocations will be different for the new programmes.  These run from 2007-2013 but will be implemented from 2008. Activities undertaken will support the implementation of Council’s Local Economic Development plan.

Key Issues

      Competitiveness and Employment Programme

      This is the principal programme under which Local Economic Development activity will be funded.  The programme will be administered by Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI).  Local authority representation on the Programme Monitoring Committee (PMC) includes Councillor Robin Newton MLA.  The new programme is likely to open in late January 2008.  Key issues to note include the following:

-     There will be no confirmation of ‘ring-fenced’ amounts for each local authority.  DETI has suggested that the amounts available to each council will be roughly comparable to the allocation under the previous programme (£5.5 million, matched with equivalent amount from Belfast City Council funding) but Councils will no longer receive a letter of offer for this amount at

      the beginning of the programme.  Instead they will be invited to ‘bid’ for funding – along with all other local authorities – and applications will be funded on a project by project basis.  DETI has indicated that councils will not be competing against each other for funding and that they will using nominal allocations for each local authority against which they can draw down funding.  DETI has suggested that the call for projects will be advertised in early 2008.

-     Activities undertaken as part of this programme must wholly fall within the priorities set as part of the European Union’s ‘Lisbon Agenda’.

      The six priorities are:

1.   Business support infrastructure

2.   Business support services

3.   Business-education links

4.   Pre-enterprise activity

5.   Trade development

6.   Local tourism development.

-     Councils consider that DETI is unconvinced of the legacy value of the work carried out under previous Local Economic Development programmes.  Under the umbrella of the Local Economic Development Forum, they have agreed to proactively raise the profile of this work through a series of promotional activities.  These should help underline local authorities’ ability to develop, deliver and promote local economic development in the light of a possible transfer of powers under the Review of Public Administration (RPA). 

      Northern Ireland Rural Development Programme

      At the November 2007 meeting of the Development Committee, members agreed to cluster with Lisburn City Council and another council (now confirmed as Castlereagh Borough Council) under the new Northern Ireland Rural Development Programme.  The other two councils have also ratified this decision.   The priority for the local authority-led measure is on improving the quality of life in rural areas and encouraging diversification of economic activity.  Eligible activities include support for business creation and development and promotion of local tourism activity.  A programme of activities  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Membership of the Belfast

Visitor and Convention Bureau

            The Head of Economic Initiatives reminded the Committee that, at its meeting on 12th September, following the introduction of the Council’s new governance arrangements, the Chairman (Councillor M. Browne) and the Deputy Chairman (Councillor Humphrey) had been appointed as the Council’s representatives on a number of outside bodies, including the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau.  She pointed out that, previously, the Council had been represented on the Bureau by the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the former Tourism and Promotion of Belfast Sub-Committee, together with six Members nominated by the Council.

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            She explained that the constitution of the Bureau entitled the Council to eight places on its Board and, accordingly, she recommended that, in addition to the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Development Committee who had been appointed on 12th September, Councillors Hendron, Mullaghan, McCausland, P. Maskey, Stoker and Smyth, who had been appointed to the Board of the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau by the Council at its meeting on 26th May, 2005, be re-appointed to the Board of the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau.

            The Committee adopted the recommendation.

Conference Subventions

            The Committee agreed that, under the terms of the Council’s Subvention Policy, the organisers of the Belfast Titanic Convention and the National Astronomy Meeting  be each provided with £1,000 towards the costs associated with their respective events.

City Branding

            The Director reminded the Committee that, at its meeting on 14th November, it had received a presentation from representatives of Lloyd Northover regarding the development of a new brand image for Belfast.

            She informed the Members that they would be receiving in the near future invitations to attend meetings in February of the City Branding Reference Group in order to progress the matter, prior to the brand being launched in the Spring.

            In answer to a Member’s question, she indicated that the meetings of the Reference Group would be receiving presentations regarding possible options for the new brand from which the Group would be asked to select the one to be used and she encouraged Members to attend these meetings.

Noted.

            The Director reminded the Committee that at recent meetings concern had been expressed regarding the membership of the Belfast Strategy Group, which had been established by the Department of Social Development to consider issues relating to the regeneration Action Plans being developed by the fifteen Neighbourhood Renewal Partnerships in the City.  Membership of the Group had, apparently, been restricted to Government Departments and the Committee had indicated that the absence of Belfast City Council representation on the Strategy Group was a major oversight.  The Director pointed out that, as a result of correspondence between the Council and the Department regarding the issue, she had received an invitation to become a member of the Belfast Strategy Group and that she would be willing to accept the invitation if the Committee considered this to be appropriate.

            After discussion, the Committee agreed that the Director accept the invitation to become a member of the Belfast Strategy Group. 

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“Relevant Background Information

      The Strategic Neighbourhood Action Programme was established in April 2007 to develop the necessary policies and procedures to enable BCC to more accurately target its service delivery within well-defined geographical areas across the city, in other words, ‘City Places’.

      Over the past nine months the SNAP team has undertaken work to design the neighbourhood boundaries. At the beginning of the Neighbourhood Boundary Design process, a range of guiding principles were established which can be detailed as follows:

-     Universal Coverage - The composite of the SNAP districts must encompass every household in the local government district.

-     Alignment with District Electoral Areas – City Places should align to the       DEA’s thus matching the model to the Council’s existing areas for political             representation.

-     Alignment to existing administrative tracts – To ensure statistical robustness, the boundaries must reflect those existing administrative tracts.

-     Equal population proportionality – To ensure equality of service delivery throughout Belfast the district must encompass an equivalent proportion of population.  A minimum of 10 and a maximum of 25 with an average population size of 18,000.

-     Optimal number of SNAP districts – the number of districts must be cost and             time efficient whilst conducive to effective delivery of Council services.

-     Acknowledgement of existing neighbourhood structures – The boundaries must be supportive of existing local area structures e.g. NR areas in order to             alleviate duplication of effort.

-     Similar Needs – each City Place should reflect areas of similar need as characterised by similar socio?economic and demographic variables.

-     City Centre - The city centre should be included as a distinct City Place to reflect Council’s own policy priority in this area.

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Key Issues

      Following the development of the Guiding Principles a methodology was developed using the amalgamation of Census Output Areas (with an average of just 300 people living in each) to create larger geographical units that will enable data to be easily collated.

      Four Options were identified using this process and each was examined in terms of compatibility with the previously established guiding principles.

      A series of cross party briefings were held in September and the Options Paper was presented to the October meeting of the Development Committee which recommend Option 1 as the preferred City Places model. This decision was deferred at the full Council meeting and at the November meeting of the Development Committee it was agreed that a cross-party working group would be held to discuss key issues that had been identified with the model.

      This meeting was held on 12 December 2007, a presentation was given on the methodology that was applied in developing the City Places. Members were also advised that the City Places areas would be primarily used to gather information about differing issues and priorities at smaller geographical areas and that service delivery could be implemented at an individual city place level or through an aggregation of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

            The Director reminded the Committee that, at its meeting on 12th December, it had agreed that the Lower Ormeau and Markets Community Forum could surrender its current lease agreement with the Council in respect of Shaftesbury Community/Recreation Centre and that the facility be leased for a period of twenty-five years to the Lower Ormeau Residents’ Action Group, subject to the Members of the Committee being provided with further information regarding the membership of the Lower Ormeau and Markets Community Forum, the Lower Ormeau Residents’ Action Group and the Inner South Neighbourhood Renewal Partnership, prior to the Council Meeting on 7th January.  However, in the event that information had not been provided.  Accordingly, a report, together with various appendices which contained the requested information, had been circulated with the papers for the current meeting.

            The Director advised the Committee that, following a decision of the former Client Services Committee, Shaftesbury Community/Recreation Centre had been leased by the Council to the Lower Ormeau and Markets Community Forum for a period of ten years, commencing in October 2000.  The lease agreement had included a sports pitch adjacent to the Centre.  She explained that under a Service Level Agreement the Lower Ormeau Residents’ Action Group delivered on behalf of the Forum a programme of activities in response to community needs.  She explained further that the Group had been awarded funding of £2.3 million, £1,925,000 of which would be provided by Sport Northern Ireland, to undertake improvements to the Centre, including the upgrading of the sports pitch.

            The Director pointed out that a Sport Northern Ireland condition required the lease for Shaftesbury to be held by the Lower Ormeau Residents’ Action Group, since that organisation would be responsible for all the work being undertaken to the facility and for the efficient and effective operation of the Centre.   Hence the request from the Forum for permission to transfer the lease for the facility to the Group.  In addition, Sport Northern Ireland had indicated that the Group would be required to meet stringent funding requirements regarding openness and accountability.

            Following a lengthy discussion, it was

Moved by Councillor P. Maskey,

Seconded by Councillor Hartley,

      That the Committee affirms its decision of 12th December to transfer the lease for the Shaftesbury Community/Recreation Centre from the Lower Ormeau and Markets Community Forum to the Lower Ormeau Residents’ Action Group. 

            On a vote by show of hands five Members voted for the proposal and six against and it was accordingly declared lost.

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Further Proposal

Moved by the Deputy Lord Mayor (Councillor Kelly),

Seconded by Councillor McCarthy,

      That the new Management Committee for the Shaftesbury Community/Recreation Centre, as required by Sport Northern Ireland’s funding condition, be in place prior to the Committee agreeing to transfer the lease in respect of the Centre from the Lower Ormeau and Markets Community Forum to the Lower Ormeau Residents’ Action Group. 

            On a vote by show of hands four members voted for the proposal and six against  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“Relevant Background Information

      Partners for Change is an action plan for Government and the Voluntary and Community Sector. The Partners for Change Strategy emerged from the Compact (1998) and sets out how Government will put the principles and commitments in the Compact into practice. It is designed to promote the role of the Voluntary and Community Sector in delivering services and to give some clarity around the range of activities that Government undertakes in partnership with the sector.

Key Issues

      All Government departments in Northern Ireland have contributed to the strategy with the Department for Social Development taking lead responsibility. This document details the actions departments will take under three key themes:

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o        Building Communities/Promoting Active Citizenship – encourage voluntary activity and the involvement of communities (both ‘geographic’ and ‘of interest’) in the planning and decision-making process about matters which affect them;

o        Shaping Policy Development/Working Together – ensure that the knowledge and expertise of the Sector informs policy development and that policies are sensitive to the needs of those who experience disadvantage; and

o        Investment in the Sector/Capacity Building – build the capacity of the sector and ensure sustainable resources necessary to enable the sector to make an effective, continued contribution to society in Northern Ireland.

      The Voluntary and Community Unit of the Department for Social Development together with the Joint Government / Voluntary and Community Sector Forum will be responsible for monitoring and evaluation of this plan.

      DSD has asked for the responses to be framed under the following questions:

1.   Do you agree that the key themes and outcomes identified in section two are an appropriate way of classifying departmental commitments to action?

2.   How will you use Partners for Change?

3.   How will Partners for Change impact upon the voluntary and community sector?

4.   Do you believe that Partners for Change could be better targeted to promote equality of opportunity?

5.   Does Partners for Change have any adverse impacts for any of the Section 75 groups (listed in Annex 1) that you feel we may not be aware of?

Considering that the deadline for responses was Monday, 31st December 2007 the Council submitted its response subject to Committee approval.

Recommendations

      Members are asked to note the content of the attached consultation response.”

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            After discussion, the Committee agreed that the following comments be submitted as the Council’s official response to the Consultation Exercise:

“1.    General comments

1.1BelfastCity Council welcomes this action plan which clearly acknowledges the critical role played by the community and voluntary sector and the way in which this sector can shape and deliver government objectives.  The key themes and outcomes are comprehensive and legitimate, based on previously agreed objectives between Government and the community and voluntary sector.

1.2However, we would like to note that the timing of the consultation seems unusual, given that the strategy is for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

            The Committee was advised that a request had been received from the Department for Regional Development to make a presentation regarding the rapid transit study which was being undertaken as part of the Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan.

            The Committee agreed that a special meeting, to which all Members of the Council would be invited, be held to receive the presentation.

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“Relevant Background Information

      Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan

      Stage 2 of the BMAP Public Local Inquiry, coordinated by the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC), for the purpose of considering objections to the Draft BMAP Plan commenced on 1 October 2007.  The second phase of the inquiry has addressed the remaining strategic housing issues from Stage 1 and commenced consideration of the Site Specific issues for the different Council areas.

      The Council submitted Stage 2 written statements to the PAC on the 23 August 2007.  Following the subsequent exchange of evidence the Council directly participated in informal inquiry hearings in relation to remaining strategic housing issues and Belfast site specific issues including the Harbour Strategy; North Foreshore; Titanic Quarter; Gasworks Northern Fringe; Kennedy Way Park & Ride and the protection of urban trees. The participation was assisted by use of specialist witnesses who provided technical evidence to support the Council position at the Inquiry hearings and responded to any new evidence submitted by objectors or Planning Service.

      The inquiry process will continue through into 2008 and is currently considering issues from the other local authority areas. The remaining participation will focus on sites outside of the Belfast Council are in which there is either a direct Council interest due to ownership or potential for development proposals that could have a broader impact e.g. Sprucefield.

Key Issues

      This report provides a summary of the more significant site specific issues for which the Council made representations at the informal inquiry sessions:

-     Strategic Housing – The Council made representations on the following issues: BMAP contains no policy for sequencing and phasing the release of housing land; the issue of social housing and affordable housing is not addressed; the issue of windfall allowance and increased densities in Brownfield sites is not being considered before Greenfield land release. Planning Service stated that the site search sequence was carried

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      out at draft plan stage and there was limited capacity therefore phasing was not a necessary; social housing will be addressed at development control stage where a needs assessment is shown; and windfall allowances.  Increased densities were unknown factor that could not be adequately assessed.

-     Belfast Harbour Strategy – the Harbour Commissioners made representations for the Port of Belfast to be designated a Special Economic Zone, in recognition of its strategic importance, with reference to be made in the policy to expedite planning processes in relation to future planning applications.  Planning Service stated that the BMAP Harbour Strategy is already a positive policy which recognised the importance of the Harbour and did not agree to include a reference to expedite planning applications as this was considered an operational rather than plan matter.

-     North Foreshore – Planning Service conceded at the hearing that Draft BMAP zoning BHA 19 for new open space in North Foreshore should be removed and the wider North Foreshore area zoned as one mixed use site on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

            The Committee considered a report and a proposed response from the Council regarding the draft masterplan for the Crumlin Road Gaol/Girdwood Park site in North Belfast.

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            The Committee agreed that the undernoted comments be submitted as the Council’s official response to the Draft Crumlin Road Gaol Masterplan Consultation Exercise, subject to it being amended to indicate that the Council acknowledges that the Advisory Panel could not reach a final decision on the housing issue:

“Introduction

1.1    Belfast City Council welcomes this ambitious proposal. For a long time the Crumlin road gaol has been a derelict site located in a contentious community area. In general the plan brings a significant opportunity for balancing development and regeneration across the city; given the ongoing development in the East of the City at Titanic Quarter and the Sirrocco Quays concept Masterplan.

1.2    Our general comment would be at the lack of detail of the drawings in the   documents. Overall the drawings do not seem to offer enough detail to comment on, especially the ones illustrating the whole site. Layout of some proposed spaces and buildings have been detailed in the main document, some areas omitted.

1.3    The Council is currently targeting regeneration efforts along Belfast’s arterial routes. The Crumlin Road is one of the priority routes identified as requiring targeted regeneration and therefore we are very supportive of the development of the Gaol site.

1.4    A significant proportion of the draft Masterplan has been based around UK best practice case studies, which the Council strongly supports. We would also recommend to DSD to look at the development of Oxford Castle project that received Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Project of the Year Award 2007.

1.5    In terms of more specific comments we have shaped our response around the sustainable communities concept.  The Sustainable Communities agenda has become pertinent to Belfast as we are all working towards the common goal of creating ‘Places where people want to live and work now and in the future’.

         This means:

·         Balancing and integrating social, economic and environmental components of their community;

·         Meeting the needs of existing and future generations;

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·         Recognising the cross cutting nature of issues affecting communities;

·         Working in a coordinated way with a wide range of interests and organisations;

·         Respecting the needs of other communities in the wider region or internationally; and

·         Recognising that sustainable communities are diverse and reflect their local circumstances.  There is no standard template to fit them all. 

1.6    In the last six months the Council has been devising the Community Support Plan for Belfast for which it had to gather evidence on needs in Belfast. The Council focused on Belfast’s four parliamentary constituencies. This response is based around the ‘eight categories’ and needs that the Council has found exist in North Belfast.

2.      Leadership & Governance

2.1    North Belfast needs support to strengthen its community capacity and infrastructure, which  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

            The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 20th April, 2005, it had considered options on how best to convert the landfill gas being generated at the former Dargan Road Landfill Site, located at the North Foreshore, into a sustainable, renewable energy source and had agreed to appoint an experienced operator as a joint venture partner to install, operate and manage the landfill gas generation facility.  The Head of Economic Initiatives pointed out that the management of the gas field would be retained by the Council to ensure the highest safety standards and that the Committee had agreed previously to the installation of a cable to connect the facility to the national electricity grid.

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252                                    Wednesday, 16th January, 2008

            She reported that, following a procurement process, three potential operators had expressed an interest.  These companies had been requested to submit tenders containing operational proposals and financial arrangements.  Following a tender evaluation exercise, she recommended that Renewable Power Systems Limited, Mile Road, Bedford, be appointed as the Council’s joint venture partner in the scheme to generate electricity from the landfill gas at the North Foreshore.  She informed the Committee that it was likely that the Council would receive an income of between £1 million and £1.5 million per annum, although this would diminish over the twenty-year contract period as the level of landfill gas decreased.

            The Committee adopted the recommendation.

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“Relevant Background Information

      A Special Development Committee on 15 May 2007 approved the Gasworks Northern Fringe Masterplan report.

      The Masterplan acknowledges the desire of the owners of the Radisson Hotel to extend the hotel and provide additional facilities. The lands acquired for the Radisson Hotel were roughly triangular leaving some additional residual lands to the north indisposed. An agreement dated 21 April 2000 has been made between Inislyn, the developers of the Radisson SAS Hotel and the City Council to rationalise these land shapes to help the process of redevelopment should the road scheme previously proposed through the Northern Fringe Site be abandoned.

      Inislyn have now prepared for Committee proposals providing for hotel accommodation, car parking and a speculative office development. These proposals relate to development on sites C and D of the Northern Fringe Masterplan. The NIE site of 1.35 acres at Stewart Street is currently being marketed by Colliers CRE with offers of £8 million. This site has been identified in the NFMP as an important strategic location to deliver improved environmental quality to the neighbouring community. The NFMP has identified the most beneficial uses of the site as either residential (public sector) or small incubator business units. Less intensive development of this site would sit better alongside the character of the existing adjacent residential areas and offer greater living and employment opportunities within the community.

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                                          Wednesday, 16th January, 2008                                        253

Key Issues

      The plans prepared for Inislyn by Consarc provide for the additional hotel accommodation:-

Ground Floor     –      Spa, leisure pool, kitchens and plant

First Floor          –      600 seater function room, breakout area, roof top garden

Second Floor     –      5 small meeting rooms and breakout areas

Third Floor         –      30 double bedrooms

Fourth Floor       –      30 double bedrooms

      Inislyn have agreed heads of terms for an extended management agreement with Radisson SAS to operate the hotel complex.

      The cost of provision of this hotel extension is estimated at approximately £10 million and will result in a doubling of staff from 80 to 160 persons.

      Inislyn have indicated that car parking will be required to support the 60 rooms proposed and to service the 600 seater function room. Inislyn’s proposal is for a four and a half deck car park with a vehicle capacity for 360 cars. There would also be 64 surface car park spaces giving a total capacity of 424 within the scheme.

      The scale of car parking has been based on:-

Visitor car parking                                                 -     120

BCC staff                                                                -     120

Existing office requirements                               -       40

Proposed speculative office                               -     184

development, hotel extension

and existing hotel requirements

                                                                  Total      -     424 spaces

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254                                    Wednesday, 16th January, 2008

      Inislyn have indicated that as with the original hotel development a speculative office development is required for funding purposes. They have included within their plans a stand alone office block comprising 35,000 sq ft net over 5 storeys with a cost of approximately  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.