Agenda item

The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1     Relevant Background Information

1.1   The ongoing Renewing the Routes (RTR) Programme has delivered local regeneration projects at targeted locations across the arterial routes of Belfast since 2004. The Programme has facilitated the investment of approximately £7,210,000 across these key routes and neighbourhoods with the completion of 692 commercial units and 124 environmental improvement schemes.

1.2   The Committee agreed a four year rolling programme for the continuation of local regeneration across the target areas of the city in February 2012.

1.3   The purpose of this report is to seek approval for additional works using the underspend to maximise Council’s investment on Stewartstown Road and Oldpark Road. 

2       Key Issues

2.1   Integrated Regeneration Plans for Stewartstown Road and Oldpark Road were approved by Committee in August 2013.

2.2   The initial priority initiatives in the agreed Action Plans have been achieved within the agreed allocations and underspends have been identified on both Stewartstown Road (£29,000) and Oldpark Road (£24,000) allowing the consideration of additional projects.

2.3   The new project opportunities being presented for Stewartstown Road and Oldpark Road include commercial and environmental improvements such as painting of frontages, strip lighting, new signage and landscaping.  These are outlined in Table 1.    

2.4   Table 1:  Additional Project Opportunities

         Stewartstown Road                                                             £29,000

2.5    Oldpark Road

           £24,000

2.6    Stewartstown Road

         The current programme of work involves enhancement of 15 commercial units as well as a number of environmental and heritage improvements, along the 1km node from Hillhead Crescent to Suffolk Road.

2.7   All of the shortlisted projects have been incorporated into the current scheme of works with the exception of a proposed environmental project at Hillhead Crescent and improvements to the railings on Stewartstown Road which are no longer viable due to proposals for the Belfast Rapid Transit (BRT) Scheme. 

2.8   To utilise the projected underspend, it is proposed to include the adjacent Woodbourne Crescent area as a commercial/environmental improvement scheme.  Despite being well used, the commercial units at Woodbourne Crescent are in poor condition.  There is a pedestrian link from Woodbourne Crescent to the existing units on Stewartstown Road which have been enhanced as part of the current programme.  It is considered that to include the commercial units at Woodbourne Crescent would create a wider environmental impact in the locale. 

2.9   Oldpark Road

         Members will recall that the Oldpark Road node boundary was extended from Torrens Avenue to Oldpark Avenue in order to address adjacent commercial units. The current programme of work involves improvements to 26 businesses as well as environmental and heritage enhancements.

2.10  During the consultation for the Oldpark Road Integrated Regeneration Plan the cluster of businesses at the junction of Oldpark Road and Rosapenna Street were highlighted as in need of improvement but it was anticipated they would have been addressed by another project.

2.11  With the programme underway it is now clear that there will be an element of underspend.  The shops located at the junction of Oldpark Road and Rosapenna Street still need improvement and there is no short term scheme to address this. 

2.12  The underspend of approximately £24,000 presents an opportunity to further maximise the overall environmental improvements by prioritising propertiesthat would benefit most from investment within the commercial node between Oldpark Avenue and Rosapenna Street. The project estimates indicate that the additional work would be accommodated within the current budget.

3       Recommendations

3.1    Committee are requested to endorse the proposals for additional projects at Stewartstown Road and Oldpark Road utilising projected underspend from the current programme as detailed in paragraphs 2.4 and 2.5.”

The Committee adopted the recommendations.