Minutes:
(Mr. T. Husbands, who had recently been appointed to the position of Chief Executive of Titanic Belfast, left the room whilst discussion in this matter was ongoing.)
The Committee considered the undernoted report:
“1 Relevant Background Information
1.1 Members will be aware of the financial commitment of £10million to be made by Council towards Titanic Belfast, an iconic tourism signature project for the City and Northern Ireland. This new world-class visitor attraction forms part of the regeneration of the Titanic Quarter, a major mixed use scheme that once complete will form a new quarter of the city within an expanded Belfast City Centre offering residential, tourism, retail, leisure and high quality employment opportunities to the residents of Belfast and beyond.
1.2 Titanic Belfast was first identified in NITB’s Strategic Framework for Action 2004-2007 as one of five key tourism signature projects for development to enhance the Northern Ireland tourism offering. Identified for its potential to create international stand out and world class excellence
for Northern Ireland, Titanic Belfast is based on the Titanic and Maritime Belfast Heritage theme. This iconic building, located in the heart of the Titanic Quarter development will open in April 2012 marking the 100th anniversary of the launch of the vessel. It will showcase the story of the Titanic and the wider theme of shipbuilding and seafaring in Belfast, including the engineering, industrial, social, cultural and economic origins and connections.
1.3 The Titanic Belfast project is leveraging £90million of public and private sector investment and will create not just significant economic benefits but a wide range of social benefits which will have the potential to improve the quality of life for everyone in the City.
1.4 Members may recall that as a condition to the Council’s funding, Titanic Quarter Ltd (TQL) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Council in June 2009. The aim of the MOU is to maximize the potential of the regeneration of the former shipyard, ensuring the development is integrated with the rest of Belfast. The agreement sets out obligations on both parties and a number of Government Departments to ensure that people from all over the City have the capacity to access the opportunities arising from the regeneration of the 185-acre site. The current MOU sets out the governance structure and management arrangements for taking this process forward and seeks to promote partnership working across a number of priority areas namely, work, tourism, housing, space, access and outreach. Working Groups have been set up under each of these themes, all of which are now functional, albeit with different levels of impact at this point. A detailed report on the progress of the various workstreams will be presented to the Titanic Quarter Working Group once it is reconstituted.
1.5 At a Special Meeting of the Committee on 30 November 2010 Members noted a critical issue was to ensure effective city wide engagement and agreed that a project be developed to design and implement a meaningful and comprehensive engagement programme, ensuring that communities have both ownership of and access to all the opportunities presented by the Titanic/ 2012. In agreeing the above, Members also noted that some existing resources would have to be reallocated in order to undertake the project.
1.6 The main purpose of this report is therefore to update Members on progress made by Council in relation to addressing these city-wide engagement priorities.
2 Key Issues
2.1 Since the special meeting on 30 November, significant progress has been made in addressing a wide range of city-wide engagement priorities and a summary of key developments and achievements are noted below.
2.2 Working Group
Under existing MOU arrangements, TQ Outreach, a working group whose aim is to maximise the engagement of Belfast’s communities in the regeneration of Titanic Quarter has been established and is presently chaired by the Department of Social Development (DSD). To date, the group activity has not been as effective as we would have hoped due to the broad range of partners involved and a lack of resources to drive the engagement process forward. To this end it is critically important that Council now takes a leadership role in driving the community engagement process forward, given the importance of this project to the City, the level of investment in the project by Council and the proximity of the opening of Titanic Belfast.
2.3 Community Engagement Plan
The year 2012 will be a once in a generation opportunity to project Belfast in a positive fashion to a wide international audience.
2.4 It is an opportunity to present the city as a confident, vibrant, forward looking city which regards itself as having a bright and exciting future. The international audience includes investors, tourists and talent from across the globe who might wish to invest, visit or locate in Belfast.
2.5 If we are to be successful in promoting that image abroad, it is important that local citizens and their communities share in that vision and believe that they will benefit from future investment. In order to do this they must first understand the potential benefits which 2012/Titanic presents for everyone in the city and that they too reflect and communicate this vision of the future.
2.6 In order to achieve this goal the Council wishes to embark on a major engagement exercise with every section of society in the city in partnership with Titanic Foundation Ltd (TFL), the charitable company set up to oversee the construction of and operation of Titanic Belfast and ensuring that everyone in Northern Ireland can benefit from this substantial public investment. The Community Engagement Plan is contained in Appendix 1 and focuses upon four key areas of work:
2.7 Public Outreach - involves a range of public interfaces that promote the Titanic/2012 brand across the city to all citizens e.g., Roadshows, Information Sessions, Fun days, Walking Tours, Events and Exhibitions, Festivals, Presentations and Facilitated Site Visits.
2.8 Social Outreach - uses social media and communications activities as a way of informing citizens of the latest developments, key activities and gaining their feedback e.g., Interactive website and email, Facebook and Twitter updates, City Matters, E-zines, Blogs and Targeted Mailshots.
2.9 Organised Community Engagement - involves working through and with the key structures within local communities to promote the opportunities presented by 2012 and Titanic across the city e.g., targeted contact with key organisations across a range of sectors including community and voluntary sector, schools, sports organisations and youth clubs; Presentations; Information Sessions; Scheduled Site Visits and the appointment of Community Champions.
2.10 Re-branding BCC activities – As Council is a major deliverer of programmes and projects across the city there now exists an opportunity to build on these existing activities and consider how they could be re-branded to promote 2012 and Titanic for the year ahead e.g., Council Grant Schemes, Parks & Leisure Outreach activities, Summer Schemes, Community Centre activities, Council events and festivals and Thematic work e.g. Children and Young People, Older People, Sports Events and Youth Forum.
2.11 Members are asked to note that whilst the Titanic brand will be key, this community engagement programme will not be limited to Titanic Quarter and Titanic Belfast but will be set within the broader context of the planned activity for 2012 which offers a major opportunity for all parts of Belfast.
The launch of the Titanic Belfast Building, the Cultural Olympiad and the completion of several key physical projects such as the Metropolitan Arts Centre, the Lyric Theatre, An Culturlann, the Spectrum Centre and the upgrade of Dunville and Woodvale Parks offer the chance to project Belfast in a new and exciting way and to begin to drive visitor numbers across the city and provide a strong economic boost. In addition the 100th Anniversary of Titanic, the 150th anniversary of the Ulster Hall and the 50th Anniversary of Belfast Festival at Queen's also take place in 2012.
2.12 Community Engagement Resources
The Community Engagement Plan which has been developed and now requires resourcing in order to ensure its effective delivery.
2.13 TFL has agreed to contribute a sum of £75k towards its implementation however does not have the human resources to support delivery of the plan. TFL has therefore requested that Council project manages its contribution towards the identified Titanic/2012 community outreach activities through the creation of a Service Level Agreement.
2.14 Given the financial commitment from TFL, it is now imperative that the Council also contributes both financial and human resources in order to ensure that there is effective engagement with the wide range of community stakeholders and citizens across the city. Discussions are currently underway with each of the Area Partnership Boards and other key partners to ensure our activities are linked into other planned outreach activities currently being developed around Titanic/2012.
2.15 The Development Department has identified a sum of £104k from existing resources to ensure that all communities across the city can benefit from the engagement programme. Existing budgets have been identified through Community Services to support the delivery of community engagement pilots, through SNAP for developing area plans to support Titanic /2012 outreach activity across the city and through Economic Development which currently coordinates all MOU activity between Council and TQL.
2.16 Members are asked to note that the financial resources identified within the Community Engagement Plan are indicative at this stage and will be revised accordingly as and when programme activity commences.
2.17 Ambassador Programme
The critical factor in delivering an effective engagement process between now and the opening of Titanic Belfast will be the availability of a team of committed, enthusiastic, experienced officers with a proven track record in community engagement.
2.18 Whilst the Development Department will take the lead in coordinating all Titanic/2012 activity it is recognised that this project is a council wide priority and therefore requires the support of experienced Officers from other departments within the council. To assist with implementation of the Community Engagement Plan Council has designed a Titanic/2012 Ambassador Programme and has recruited approximately 30 suitably skilled individuals to be the public face of the outreach programme.
2.19 The role of the ambassadors will be to raise the profile of Titanic/2012, sell its benefits across the city; engage with citizens and community groups regarding opportunities, deliver workshops and presentations to the public and feed back key issues for follow-up.
2.20 An initial workshop was hosted on 9 June to introduce nominated Officers to the project; underlining its importance to the Council and the City and equipping individuals with the necessary information and tools to effectively engage with stakeholders at a community level. It is now intended that focused training sessions will be delivered during summer 2011 with engagement activities commencing shortly thereafter.
2.21 Whilst a number of individuals across the organisation and in partner organisations have agreed to participate on the Ambassador Programme, it is requested that Elected Representatives also consider championing the Titanic/2012 brand, promoting all activities and events and helping sell its key benefits across the city. In recognising that the needs and issues of local communities will differ across the city, Council is presently developing individual, localised engagement plans with each Area Partnership Board to ensure that all citizens will be able to experience and benefit from Titanic/2012 activities.
3 Resource Implications
3.1 There are significant human and financial resource implications in terms of Council effectively overseeing and delivering the community engagement programme.
4 Equality and Good Relations Considerations
4.1 There are no Equality and Good Relations Considerations attached to this report.
5 Recommendations
5.1 Given the significance of 2012, the importance of the regenerative potential of the Titanic Quarter and the level of Council investment in Titanic Belfast, the associated Community Engagement process must be regarded as being of corporate significance.
5.2 In light of the above, Members are asked to:
- Note the contents of this report and good progress is being made by each of the six thematic working groups.
- Note the most critical issue at this point is delivery of an effective community engagement programme, supported by a team of experienced Officers across the Council.
- Note Council and TFL has developed a Community Engagement Plan with buy-in from a wide range of public, private, community and voluntary stakeholders and has agreed to develop individual, localised engagement plans with each of the Area Partnership Boards to ensure that all citizens and communities across the city are able to experience Titanic/2012 activities.
- Approve a proposal for TFL to enter into a Service Level Agreement with Council, jointly cooperating in the development and implementation of the community outreach programme and subsequently reimbursing Council for its share of the costs (£75k).
- Approve the proposal to reallocate existing Council resources to a value of £145k and for these budgets to be utilised to support Titanic /2012 outreach activity.
- Consider Member nominations to support the Titanic/2012 agenda.”
The Director outlined the principal aspects of the report and referred to the potential benefits which Titanic Belfast could bring to the residents of the City. He referred to the significant plans for community engagement which had been envisaged and outlined the key work of the Thematic Groups which had been established to deliver the objectives as set out in the Memorandum of Understanding between the Council and Titanic Quarter Limited.
A Member referred to the work of the Thematic Groups and suggested that the benefits which had been realised to date by local communities had been somewhat limited. He indicated that a meeting should be sought with the key stakeholders in the project to address the issues raised. A further Member indicated that the Titanic Memorandum of Understanding had, given the significant investment which the Council had made to it, not delivered the substantial benefits which had been foreseen. He referred specifically to the issues of job creation, the development of social housing, economic enhancement and community empowerment through the project.
A further Member suggested that the Council should, rather than invest heavily in Titanic Belfast, seek to promote, on a collaborative basis, what he suggested were the three primary quarters of the City, viz., the Gaeltacht Quarter, the Cathedral Quarter and the Titanic Quarter. He indicated that such an approach could create a dynamic model of economic regeneration across the City and that the Council’s financial commitments to Titanic Belfast should be re-examined accordingly.
After prolonged discussion, it was
Proposed by Councillor Robinson,
Seconded by Alderman Humphrey,
That the Committee agrees to adopt the recommendations as set out within the report and that a special meeting, to which the key stakeholders would be invited, be held in due course to discuss the issues which had been raised by the Members.
On a vote by show of hands nine Members voted for the proposal and seven against and it was accordingly declared carried.
It was noted also that the Director would submit for the Committee’s information a report in respect of the financial assistance which the Council had thus far provided to the development of the Gaeltacht Quarter.