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 provide a 6-month progress report on the key actions contained in the City Growth & Regeneration Committee Plan, as agreed by Committee in June 2017.  In particular, it will highlight the impact of the work undertaken in terms of jobs growth, skills development, cultural investment and physical regeneration.  The headline figure is that almost 800 jobs were created as a direct result of the Council’s investment over this period. 

 

1.2       The Plan draws together several annual delivery plans; such as city centre development, support for businesses, Employability & Skills, tourism and the cultural framework.  It sets out the main priorities and programmes of work that the Committee will oversee during 2017-18 to maximise the Council’s contribution to delivering the Belfast Agenda that, at its core, has a commitment to inclusive growth.

 

1.3       The Belfast Agenda sets out an ambition for growth and opportunity that includes four headline goals to focus on the economic and social growth of Belfast so that by 2035:

 

·        Our city is home to an additional 66,000 new residents

·        Our urban economy supports 46,000 more jobs

·        There will be a 33% reduction in the life expectancy gap between the most and least deprived neighbourhoods

·        Every young person leaving school has a destination that fulfils their potential.

 

1.4       This report sets out the progress against the programmes and projects aligned to the delivery of the 4 key work streams in the Belfast Agenda: Growing the Economy, City Development, Working & Learning and Living Here.  Appendix 1 (available on modern.gov) provides an overview of the main commitments under each priority workstream.

 

1.5       In addition, there are a number of stretch goals which together with city partners, this Committee will make a significant contribution to deliver on by 2021:

 

·        Create 15,000 new jobs

·        Attract over £1bn in private sector investment, including FDI

·        Create 4,000 business start-ups;

·        Increase the value of out of state tourism to £500million and welcome 1.9m overnight tourist stays per year

·        Grow the city’s rate base by 5% through increased number of residential and commercial developments

·        Create 1.5 million sq. feet Grade A office space and 3,000 new hotel bed spaces

·        Reduce working age economic inactivity to less than 23%

·        Reduce the proportion of working population with no qualification to less than 10%

·        Increase the proportion of the working age population with Level 2 qualification and above to more than 82% and those with Level 4 qualifications and above to 38%

·        98% of school leavers in employment, education or training.

 

2.0       Recommendations

 

            The Committee is asked to:

 

·        Note the progress to date against the agreed actions within the Committee Plan, including the creation of almost 800 jobs and progress towards the commitment of the City Centre Regeneration Fund

·        Agree that Officers continue to progress with the rest of the actions in the plan over the course of the financial year.

 

3.0       Main Report

 

3.1       Key Issues

 

            The 2017-18 Committee Plan was developed in line with the Council’s Corporate Plan and the Belfast Agenda. The Belfast Agenda has at its core a commitment to inclusive growth and the importance of growing the local economy to improve the quality of life. A summary of the four priority work streams is available on modern.gov.  While the Committee contributes to the delivery of all 4 work streams, Growing the Economy, City Development and Working & Learning are the focus of this Committee, therefore the Committee continues to take the lead in ensuring that there is connectivity between the need for economic growth and the purpose of this growth – to connect people to opportunity and reduce inequality.

 

3.2       Appendix 2 (available on modern.gov) provides an update against each of the main action areas in the committee plan. Members are also aware that a number of detailed reports on key programmes of work have recently been considered and will continue to feature regularly on the Committee agenda.

 

3.3       As the Committee is aware, over the last 6 months, there has been a corporate focus on working with Derry City & Strabane District Council to prepare and submit the joint bid for European Capital of Culture 2023.  The Committee has received regular updates on progress with this significant corporate programme of work.  The theme and development of the cultural programme will shape the ongoing work across the Council to ensure alignment to events and festivals, cultural and arts and community programming where opportunities arise.

 

3.4       The first two quarters have seen additional recruitment activity to resource the teams to deliver on the Council’s ambitions for attracting investment, engaging with communities in the city centre and creating jobs and enhancing employability for local people.

 

 

3.5       Overview of Progress (April-September 2017)

 

            Particular highlights for the first six months of the plan include:

 

            Growing the Economy

 

·        149 jobs created through the Start a Business programme

·        Supported the creation of an additional 83 jobs within 25 companies based at the Innovation Factory (since Innovation Factory opening in October 2016)

·        Supported Visit Belfast to secure business tourism investment to the value of £55million over the last year, with 69 major conferences attracting 25,000 delegates

·        248 people have participated on our business start support programmes and over 600 people have participated on our business growth programmes

·        Secured buy-in from the enterprise sector and commenced the development of collaborative Enterprise Framework to boost enterprise and encourage under-represented groups to set up their own businesses

·        Delivered two successful Twilight Markets at St George’s Market, with over 120 traders at each event, attracting a total footfall of over 40,000 across both events 

·        Delivered a successful Belfast in China week in May 2017 and confirmed a regionally significant China Summit and visit from our Sister City, Shenyang for December 2017

·        In partnership with Invest NI, delivered the successful ‘Routes’ conference which attracted 1,160 international delegates, including 114 airlines, 270 airports and 36 tourism authorities.

·        Completed the development work on a City Proposition and Concierge Service, with the service due to be operational from the new financial year

·        Refreshed Belfast’s place positioning and branding and agreed roll-out plan with city partners

·        Commenced the development of the MIPIM 2018 programme with an expected November launch

·        Hosted site visits for potential investors and continued to liaise with indigenous developers

·        Development work under way on an Events and Festivals Strategy for the city.

 

 

            City Development

 

·        Launched a new phase of the £18m City Centre Investment Fund to support construction of Grade A Offices. There was a good response from the development market and applications are currently being evaluated

·        Over 1,000 hotel bedrooms are under construction in Belfast. The majority of these will be open in 2018 and bring the city’s hotel room stock to over 5,000.

·        Draft masterplans for the East Bank and Inner North & West were completed. Public consultation results for East Bank and a presentation on Inner North & West masterplan will be brought to Committee in the coming months

·        Work has commenced on interim use arrangements for the Belfast Telegraph; including use of the former print room as an events space, and the lease of the first floor to Digital Catapult NI to pioneer an Immersive Digital Hub

·        Secured approval to procure a new city infrastructure strategy. This will highlight current provision and identify gaps, in particular additional infrastructure investment required to support the ambitions of the Belfast Agenda

·        Progressed the planning and design work for Blackstaff Square

·        Procurement of the outline business case (OBC) for the Belfast Story Destination Hub is progressing. This will be a central component of our City Deal.

 

            Working & Learning

 

·        Over 550 Belfast residents have found work and over 2,000 residents have accessed employability support (CV building, work experience, work-based training etc.)

·        Over 550 training accreditations have been supported, of which 200 are Level 2 qualifications or above

·        Almost 4,000 young people have participated in enterprise skills development activities in schools across the city

·        Work has commenced on delivering a large-scale programme of work experience and skills development opportunities for young people within 25 schools

·        Development and delivery of Digital Skills Initiative for 36 schools and 16 youth groups across the city

·        Agreed the city centre engagement strategy, which includes community capacity building, social engagement, and economic inclusion. A new Regeneration Engagement Officer was recruited in September to implement the strategy.

 

            Living Here

 

·        The joint submission between Belfast City Council and Derry City & Strabane District Council for European Capital of Culture 2023 is on target to have engaged with 14,000 citizens by the submission date of 27 October 2017

·        Successfully delivered a range of high profile events during the summer months: - the Women’s Rugby World Cup where the live coverage of the final saw a peak television audience of 2.6?million viewers; the U- 9 Women’s Football which resulted in almost 4,000 beds have been booked in Belfast hotels for the teams and officials; and the Ice Hockey World Championships were also successfully delivered during Summer 2017.

 

3.6       Finance and Resource Implications

 

            Progress to date is in line with the previous agreed Departmental budgets.

 

3.7       Equality or Good Relations Implications

 

            Programmes and actions within the Committee Plan are developed and delivered in consultation with the Council’s Equality & Diversity Officers.”

 

            A number of Members stated that the officers should be commended for their hard work which had contributed to the numerous successes outlined in the report.  A Member suggested that the Council should seek to highlight the positive initiatives in the report to the media through regular briefings.

 

            During discussion, a Member pointed out that it was important to ensure that the right jobs were being brought to the City and that the working poor figures were not being perpetuated.

 

            The Chief Executive highlighted to the Members the importance of a City Deal for Belfast.

 

            The Committee adopted the recommendations.