Agenda item

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

 

“1.0     Purpose of Report

 

1.1      To propose a new engagement plan covering strategic regeneration across Belfast, with specific focus on the city centre. The plan will engage a wide range of stakeholders, with a particular aim to involve and empower all Belfast residents, ensuring impacts of major developments are understood and benefits shared.

 

1.2      This report sits alongside the proposal to create a new City Development Forum for Members, with the objective to improve consideration of strategic regeneration schemes, and related thematic issues, at an early stage.

 

2.0      Recommendations

 

2.1      The Committee is asked to approve the proposal to:

 

·        develop and implement an engagement strategy, linked to regeneration in the city, with the primary aim of delivering physical, social and economic benefits to residents, businesses and other existing shareholders.

·        apply and extend existing models of community benefit including skills academies, social clauses, and social regeneration initiatives being pioneered by the Innovation Factory and small business start.

·        allocate via an internal trawl a dedicated resource to develop and implement the strategy.  If members considered it to be appropriate this could be done on a temporary basis and then reconsidered.

 

 

3.0       Main report

 

            Strategic Regeneration

 

3.1      The City Centre Regeneration Strategy sets out eight areas for development, including growth in employment, tourism, retail, and city centre living. Since the publication of the strategy, in Sept 15, significant regeneration has started to come forward, including:

 

·        New offices under development at City Quays, the Linen Quarter and by Allstate and Concentrix adjacent to Central Station;

·        Six hotels currently in construction and a further 13 with approved planning;

·        A 48,000 square foot extension to Primark, along with a number of new entrants to the retail market;

·        5,000 new student bedspaces have been approved, with flagship developments such as John Bell House now complete.

 

3.2       The pace of development is increasing year on year, with major planning applications expected later this year for the North-East Quarter, Transport Hub, Sirocco and redevelopment of the Belfast Telegraph building. There are a number of strategic schemes outside the City Centre, including Giant’s Park, and the King’s Hall health hub; while there is also agreement in principle to use part of the City Centre Investment Fund to help finance more Grade A offices.

 

3.3       The Belfast Agenda highlights the City Ambition to go even further, with 1.5m sq foot of Grade A offices and 2,500 hotel bedspaces created by 2021; 70,000 new residents and of 50,000 jobs created by 2035.

 

3.4       Regeneration Engagement Plan

 

            The City Centre Regeneration Strategy will play an important part in achieving the ambition set out in the Belfast Agenda. Council is committed to ensuring inclusive growth for the city and to ensure that all Belfast residents feel part of and benefit from city centre regeneration. Council is also committed to job growth so engagement will also include the existing commercial and business sector as well as the arts and cultural sector.

 

3.5       While the growing pace of development is welcome, to help ensure that residents and the business community in the city feel part of and benefit from the regeneration of the city, it is proposed that an engagement plan be established to include;

 

·        Belfast residents with emphasis as required on communities adjacent to significant developments within the city centre and wider areas

·        City centre and other businesses, arts and culture organisations/other key stakeholders

(for the sake of brevity in the report, further reference to all these organisations will be referred to as ‘business’)

 

3.6       The Regeneration Engagement Plan will focus on three key area;

 

·        Physical Inclusion

·        Social Inclusion

·        Economic Inclusion

 

3.7       Physical Inclusion

 

            This focuses on capacity building of residents and businesses to enable them to understand impacts of proposed physical developments, including transportation infrastructure, and be fully involved in the development of strategic projects.

 

3.8       Engagement will include:

 

·        leadership, vision and direction on involvement;

·        managing independent technical advice as required for residents where deemed necessary; and

·        developing and implementing a range of local consultation exercises, with elected members, residents, businesses/stakeholders and partners;

 

3.9       Social Inclusion

 

            Key themes of engagement will be connectivity and working to address both physical and perceived barriers between the city core and its surrounding areas for both residents and business community and ensuring that the 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.

 

3.10     The engagement plan will also include provision for positive engagement enabled by a series of proactive, capital ‘Meanwhile uses’ on vacant sites and vacant building within the city centre. These uses will help drive footfall into areas that require it to assist local businesses and/or address issues of safety. It will also seek to ensure that all Belfast residents from across the city have an opportunity to be involved in the concept/design and delivery/use of these ‘Meanwhile uses’. This will help to create a sense of ownership of and pride in the city centre, and additionally provide an opportunity for citizens to learn, via this process, about development and design principles.

 

3.11     Economic Inclusion

 

            This area of engagement will tie in with Planning and Place, the statutory consultation process on development management, and the Economic Development Department/Belfast Employability and Skills teams. The aim is to facilitate a process that creates a pipeline between potential jobs that may be coming forward with new developments and how residents can be upskilled, access and become job ready for these positions.

 

3.12     To achieve this objective existing models of economic inclusion will be extended and developed to major regeneration projects coming forward. This includes:

 

·        Use of social clauses in procurement contracts

·        Skills academies relevant to key developments coming forward, e.g. construction, hospitality or retail.

·        Adopting and applying the economic regeneration approach pioneered through the Innovation Factory and Small Business Start.

 

3.13     Worksteams on city centre engagement will tie in with BCC Consultation and Engagement Framework across the council including Planning and Place consultation processes on the LPD and link closely with the Community and Neighbourhood Services Department to seek to ensure all sections of the community are reached.

 

3.14     Financial & Resource Implications

 

            Evidence from previous experience suggests that a dedicated staff resource is required to take forward the significant consultation and engagement issues associated with regeneration.

 

3.15     The staff post could initially be allocated from within existing Council resource via an internal trawl, with additional work being commissioned out as required. There is sufficient budget within the City Centre Team to fund this arrangement.

 

3.16     Equality or Good Relations Implications

 

            Any engagement programmes taken forward by the City Centre team will be equality screened. A map illustrating the city centre boundary is also attached.”

 

            The Committee adopted the recommendations.