Agenda item

            The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 19th April, it had approved the ‘Patterns of the City Belfast City Dressing Plan’. The Director reminded the Committee that that Plan was a cross-community tourism initiative which sought to enhance the City’s appearance through the dressing of lampposts in the city centre and on main access routes. The Committee was advised that it was anticipated that any further development of the Plan would address City branding and development and would be in line with the implementation of a new tourism strategy. A review of City dressing would be integral to any new strategic direction and he reported that an adapted City dressing policy would be submitted for the Committee’s approval.

            Accordingly, the Committee noted the information which had been provided and endorsed the contents of the updated City Dressing Policy as set out hereunder: 

         “City Dressing Policy

         Objectives of the City Dressing Steering Group

         The role of the Belfast City Dressing Steering Group is to oversee the implementation of City Dressing across Belfast and ensure that it creates a sense of welcome and builds the Belfast Brand.  The Group will also monitor city dressing usage and needs across the city. The City Dressing plan includes generic patterns of the city that communicate a sense of energy, innovation and vibrancy.   In addition the city dressing plan includes supporting the promotion of key international events and giving events and festivals access to agreed hire sites for promotions and marketing purposes. 

         City Dressing Steering Group Members

·         Belfast City Centre Management

·         Belfast City Council: Building Control, Tourism, Culture and Arts, Events, Corporate Communications

·         Department for Regional Development

·         Department for Social Development

·         Visit Belfast

         Remit of City Dressing

·         ensure that city dressing provides sense of welcome;

·         ensure that city dressing provides information in a stimulating way;

·         ensure that city dressing creates a feel of a special occasion across the city or one of the destinations;

·         ensure that city dressing arouses curiosity in an appealing way;

         Organisation Roles

         Belfast City Council

         Belfast City Council (BCC) will manage and implement the generic city patterns and winter pattern campaign across the existing locations and tourism place destinations.

         Belfast City Centre Management

         Belfast City Centre Management will manage commercial campaigns and these will only be permitted in the areas managed by Belfast City Centre Management.  Commercial campaigns must follow template/ design guidelines agreed by BCC and the City Dressing Steering Group.

         BCCM will manage city wide event campaigns under a legal contract and SLA with BCC which ensure:

·         Campaigns must be formally shared with the City Dressing Steering Group in advance of the campaign start date.

·         BCCM must ensure that all proposed commercial dressing artwork has been equality checked, shared and approved by the Department of Regional Development and approved by the City Dressing steering Group.

         This city dressing policy acknowledges and includes the BCCM Banner Policy agreed with DRD.

         Department for Social Development

         The department owns a number of sites within the city centre and permission will be sought to use these sites and co-ordinate activity with the general city dressing plans.

         Belfast City Dressing locations:

         Prioritisation of City Dressing is given to:

·         Main Visitor Access Roads – already established and in operation

·         Quarters/Tourism Place Destination – main visitor routes (detailed below)

·         City Centre

         Tourism place destinations were identified in the Integrated Strategic Tourism Framework.  These place destinations will be priority locations and restricted to 15 lamp post sites in high profile locations in each area.  The implementation of city dressing will be dependent on the development of the tourism place destination plans. Progress is dependent on a tourism development team taking on responsibility of liaising with BCC to implement city dressing.

·         Cathedral Quarter

·         City Centre

·         East Belfast

·         Gaeltacht Quarter

·         Queen’s Quarter

·         Shankill

·         Titanic Quarter

         Permitted Campaigns for City Dressing

         Within the city centre there are sites available for hire by the commercial sector.  Only campaigns that enhance the image and brand of the city will be permitted.  These include city events, city campaigns and festivals.

         Campaigns that are inappropriate or are linked to inappropriate brands via sponsorship will not be permitted.  Promotions (e.g. two for one offers, advertising promotions) will not be permitted for city dressing.

         Major events that can clearly demonstrate the ability to attract international media coverage (MTV EMAs, Olympics, World Police and Fire Games, Giro Italia, Tall Ships 2015) and can secure international footfall in the city will have access to agreed city dressing sites beyond the commercial sites in the city centre.  Proposals will be reviewed by the City Dressing Steering Group and a collective decision reached. City wide branding will also require political approval and at least a 6 month notice in advance of campaign start date.”