Agenda item

            (Councillor O’Hara declared an interest in this Item and left the room for the duration of the discussion).

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1.0     Purpose of Report

1.1        The purpose of the report is to seek Members’ approval for the submission of a bid under the ‘Village Renewal’ theme of the Rural Development Programme for the development of renewal schemes in Hannahstown and Edenderry following the completion of the villages plans and to recommend that the capital match funding element which is required to support the submission is referred to the Strategic Policy & Resources Committee for consideration.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       The Committee is asked to:

·        authorise the submission of a bid under the Village Renewal theme of the Rural Development Programme for village renewal schemes in  Hannahstown and Edenderry

·        note that, in order to secure the maximum allocation of £150,000 for the schemes, match funding of £70,000 from the Council is required.  As this money is capital this needs to be considered by the Strategic Policy & Resources Committee as the Council’s investment decision maker and Members are asked to agree that this scheme is referred to the SP&R Committee for its consideration

·        approve £7,500 for the current financial year and £7,500 in the coming financial year to support programme overheads to be met from within existing Departmental budgets

3.0       Main report

3.1       Members will recall that at its meeting on the 13 January 2016 the City & Growth Committee agreed to enter into an SLA with Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council to support the development and delivery of activities within the eligible area for the Northern Ireland Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 (NIRDP).

3.2       At this time Members also agreed to provide development costs of £10,000 towards the production of village plans for the Hannahstown and Edenderry village areas. These completed plans are a pre-requisite for drawing down NIRDP funding under the Village Renewal Theme. This is one of five priority areas under the programme. Given the limited eligible area within the Belfast City Council boundary, the Village Renewal Theme is one of the key opportunities for attracting NIRDP funding and the only two eligible village areas are Hannahstown and Edenderry.

3.3       At the 13 January 2016 meeting, Members were advised that, once the village plans were developed, information would be brought back to the Council to indicate the level of match funding required to support delivery.

3.4       The completed plans set out a series of potential improvement works, aimed at delivering physical and environmental improvements in the respective areas –

·        Hannahstown - the capital works include planting, environmental improvements and boundary improvements in line with NIRDP eligibility criteria.

·        Edenderry – environmental improvements works including paths upgrades and new marquee

3.5       The maximum budget available under the Village Renewal Programme is £150,000. The funding is subject to securing match funding from Belfast City Council. In order to secure the full £150,000, £50,000 of capital funding is required from the Council (to be allocated equally across the two village areas).  In additional the Council will be required to contribute towards external professional services such as Landscape Architect, Quantity Surveying and Construction Design Management Co-ordination. This should be a minimum of 10% (£20,000) of the overall capital cost of the works. The overall commitment from the Council is therefore £70,000.  Given that this is for capital works this needs to be considered by the Strategic Policy & Resources Committee as the Council’s investment decision maker and Members are asked to agree that this scheme is referred to the SP&R Committee for their consideration.  It is also proposed that the projects are delivered by the Property and Projects Department - subject to approval by the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee.

3.6       As part of the Service Level Agreement with Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, Belfast City Council is also required to make a contribution towards programme staff overheads. This is based on the proportion of the district that sits within the eligible area and the available funding. This contribution covers programme overheads such as staffing and office accommodation. The rest of the funding is provided by NIRDP and Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council. The amount required is likely to be in the region of £7,500 each year over the first two years of the programme. Overheads will reduce in year 3 as programme expenditure decreases so a revised overhead will be calculated at that point and Committee approval will be sought for any Belfast City Council contribution. Members are asked to approve the allocation of £15,000 for the first two years of the programme from the Development Department’s budget.

3.7       Financial and Resource Implications

            Financial

            Match funding - The RDP is subject to securing match funding from the Council.  In order to secure the £150k £70k of match funding is required from the Council – as this money is for capital works this needs to be agreed by the SP&R Committee as the Council’s investment decision maker and it is proposed that this is referred to the SP&R Committee for their consideration

            Programme support - £15k required over the first two years of the programme  - this funding has been set aside in departmental budgets for the 2016/17 and 2017/18 financial years

            Resource

            Officer time in continuing to work up the proposals 

            Equality & Good Relations Implications

            All activity will be subject to equality screening.”

            The Committee adopted the recommendations.