Agenda item

The Committee considered the undernoted report:

 

“1.0     Purpose of Report or Summary of main Issues

 

1.1       The purpose of this report is to:

 

·        Update Members on the proposed community engagement strategy for the City Centre Development Team.

·        Update Members on the City Centre Development Team staffing structure and ongoing commissioned work.

 

2.0       Recommendations

 

2.1       The Committee is asked to:

 

·        Comment on the proposed consultation approach and agree to the recruitment of a Community Engagement Manager (Officer) within the City Centre Development Team and extend the existing strategic advisory commission on a month by month basis until such times as the directorate has full operating capacity and;

·        Note the staffing structure which is available on modern.gov.

 

 

3.0       Main report

 

            Background

 

3.1       In April 2015 the SP&R Committee received an update on the development of City Centre & Regeneration Strategy, pending the creation of a dedicated team to ensure its effective delivery. The role of the City Centre team is to:

 

·        Implement the Belfast City Centre Regeneration and Investment Strategy

·        Drive the development of the city centre by leading and coordinating the delivery of projects and

·        Input on strategic planning and policy matters relating to the city centre, ensuring Belfast is a prominent and resilient European city for investment.

 

3.2       The Strategy is based on the following core principles:

 

·        Increase the employment population

·        Increase the residential population

·        Manage the retail offer

·        Maximise the tourism opportunity

·        Create a regional learning and innovation centre

·        Create a green, walkable, cyclable centre

·        Connect to the city around

·        Shared space and social impact

 

3.3       The Committee will be aware that the City Centre Strategy has been developed in the context of our new responsibility to produce a community plan for the city. The community plan, known as the Belfast Agenda, will provide the vision for Belfast created in partnership with key city partners, residents and community organisations.

 

3.4       The City Centre Strategy will play an important part in achieving the social, environmental and economic goals of the Belfast Agenda. The Council is committed to ensuring inclusive growth for the city and to ensure that people living in and around the city centre feel part of and benefit from city centre regeneration with commercial growth being balanced with social impact.

 

            Proposal

 

3.5       To help ensure that people living in and around the city centre feel part of and benefit from the regeneration of the city, it is proposed that a Community Engagement post be recruited to the City Centre Team.

 

3.6       The main purpose of the role will be to;

 

·        Develop, manage and implement the Community Involvement Strategy for the City Centre development area and the neighbouring communities;

·        Provide leadership, vision and direction to the Community Involvement Strategy including developing and implementing a range of local consultation exercises, ensuring effective engagement with local elected members, residents, stakeholders and partners;

·        Lead on capacity building of local residents to enable them to be fully involved in the regeneration and future development of defined projects within the Belfast City Centre;

·        Ensure that projects developed within the city centre connect with the surrounding neighbourhoods and ensure that opportunities for residents are realised.

 

3.7       The post holder would work across the council and in particular with the Community and Neighbourhood Services Department to seek to ensure all sections of the community are reached, and with the Economic Development and Belfast Employability teams to ensure that community residents can be signposted to the appropriate contacts for job opportunities.

 

3.8       The role will also connect with Planning and Place and Property and Projects and Strategic Planning units, linking to their community engagement processes.   The role will support communities in the consultation processes around significant physical and social impact projects in the city centre, assisting in providing technical support to communities, to ensure that the project has maximum impact on the social, economic and environmental outcomes for the surrounding communities.  

 

3.9       Key themes of the role will be neighbourhood connectivity and working to address both physical and perceived barriers between the city core and its surrounding neighbourhoods and ensuring that the social benefits of city centre developments are fully realised and captured. Underpinning this entire approach will be the concept of shared space and how it becomes inherent in the development of any policy or project.

 

           

 

City Centre Development Team

 

3.10     The Director of City Centre Development took up post in June 2016.  In addition to the proposed Community Engagement Manager, a number of posts within the previously agreed functional model for the City Centre Development Team will be recruited in the coming months, with all appointments anticipated to be in place by December 2016. The posts include a Marketing Manager, a Finance Manager and two Senior Area Managers.

 

3.11     Committee previously received information about the commissioning/continuation of temporary resources via the Consultancy One framework to take forward city centre development initiatives until such times as a full in-house team is put in place, within the budget set for regeneration. This included the provision of real estate expertise through Deloitte and the production of various project proposals, economic analysis, going to market strategies, investment propositions, etc.   As the team becomes populated over the next few months, the use of external support will not be required at the same level and hence the current arrangements will be phased down accordingly.   However in order to maintain momentum and continuity, it is considered prudent during the next few months to enable some of these services to continue through the appropriate procurement frameworks. 

 

3.12     Financial and Resource Implications

 

            A budget exists within the City Centre Development function for the proposed posts and support as outlined above.

 

3.13     Equality and Good Relations Implications

 

            None.”

 

            In response to a Member’s question regarding the use of external consultants in progressing the city centre development initiatives, the Chief Executive advised the Committee that the Council needed expert assistance to develop financially viable projects, proposals, understand economic analysis, build and market investment opportunities in the city centre but that the use of consultants would decrease substantially when the Director of City Centre Development had a full complement of staff.  In respect of the costs she confirmed that these had been included within the budget agreed during the rate setting process.

 

            A Member queried whether the boundary for the city centre had been finalised.   In response, the Chief Executive advised that, as part of the Belfast City Centre Regeneration and Investment Strategy, an arc had been drawn around the city centre to include inner city communities, but agreed that a map would be provided for members at a future meeting.

 

            A Member welcomed the recommendation to recruit a Community Engagement post within the City Centre Development Team, stating that it would help to connect the local communities which bounded the city centre with the ongoing regeneration works within it.

 

            During discussion, a Member expressed concern that, given the final overall structure for the Council had not yet been agreed, they did not see the need to recruit another middle management post.  At that point, the Director of City Centre Development clarified that there was an error within the report, and that she was asking for the Committee to agree to the recruitment of a Community Engagement Officer. 

 

            The Member questioned the need for such a post and suggested that the role of community engagement should be integral to all posts.

 

Moved by Councillor Reynolds,

 

Seconded by Councillor Dudgeon,

 

      That the Committee agrees not to recruit a Community Engagement Officer within the City Centre Development Team.

 

            On a vote by show of hands ten Members voted for the proposal and six against and it was declared carried.

 

            After further discussion, the Committee:

 

1.     noted the proposed consultation approach;

 

2.     agreed not to recruit a Community Engagement Officer within the City Centre Development Team;

 

3.     noted the staffing structure (without the Community Engagement post); and

 

4.     agreed to extend the existing strategic advisory commission on a month by month basis until such times as the directorate had full operating capacity.