Agenda item

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

 

“Relevant Background Information

 

      Members will be aware that the European Unit brings regular progress reports to Members.  The purpose of this report is to advise Members of progress with respect to:

 

-     OPENCities project

 

-     Interreg IVA programme

 

-     Comet Brussels visit

 

-     Opportunity Europe 2008

 

-     European Year of Intercultural Dialogue: Closing Conference

 

Key Issues

 

      1.   OPENCities Project

 

      Members will recall their decision on 21 March 2007 to allow BelfastCity Council’s European Unit to develop a proposal to secure funding within the European Urbact II programme.  Members will also recall that a proposal was successfully developed to address the issues around economic migration in Belfast and to identify best practise economic migration tools in cities elsewhere in Europe.  The project was granted €75,000 for a development phase to recruit partner cities and their respective managing authorities and plan the 30 month phase II programme.

 

      At this stage the project was awarded a new EU Commission Fast Track label, this means that the EU Commission views the project as a flagship project and will assign Commission staff from relevant departments to work with the project and ensure that any findings are considered when developing future European policies relating to economic migration.

 

      On 24 November 2008, Belfast City Council as lead partner was informed that the Stage II application had been successful, securing a further €635,000 funding.

 

      The programme funding under Urbact II is provided at 70% and will mean in practice that Belfast City Council will contribute approximately €30,000 over the 30 month period but will in turn secure two full time posts to manage the project.

 

      The OPENCities project involves the following partners; Dublin, Sofia, Bilbao, Vienna, Düsseldorf, Bucharest, Gdansk, Nitra, Cardiff, Madrid and the British Council Madrid.

 

      The OPENCities project will produce a number of outputs including an openness index, best practice exchanges and reports, local action plans and toolkits.

 

      2.   Interreg IVA

 

      Members will be aware that on 14 December 2007 the Comet Interreg partnership submitted a multi-annual plan for funding to the Special EU Programmes Body.  The plan was developed over 14 months following extensive awareness raising, promotion and project development throughout the metropolitan area.  The plan contained 18 (out of an original 54) projects across the themes of enterprise, tourism and public sector collaboration totalling £18 million.  At the same time the other four Interreg Partnerships

 

across NI and the border region submitted competing bids for the Interreg IVA funding of €258 million.  Although Comet has not received a formal letter of offer, the partnership board has been told that, to date, it has secured €5.5 million to deliver seven projects across the border and Comet regions.

 

      Details of the seven projects are available on Modern.gov. Members should however note that Belfast City Council and its stakeholders will benefit in particular from:

 

A business development programme led by the NITC

 

A NI Chamber of Commerce collaboration project

 

The Council carbon footprint analysis

 

The capital build support for the Oh Yea creative industries project, and

 

The Gaeltacht Quarter cultural tourism projects.

 

      Members will be aware that Belfast City Council is represented on the Comet board by the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Development Committee, Councillor Michael Browne and Councillor William Humphrey.  The role of both Members will be enhanced through the implementation of Interreg IVA as Belfast City Council, as lead partner of the application, will be fully responsible and accountable for the implementation and management of the funding during the period 2008-2011.

 

      The Comet Councils and stakeholders will have an opportunity throughout the Interreg IVA programme to develop and submit new project bids as new calls open under enterprise, collaboration, creative industries and environment.  Due to over subscription it is not expected that there will be a further tourism call.  Members are asked to note the allocation of Interreg IVA funding.

 

      3.   Comet Brussels visit 2009

 

      Members will be aware that the six Comet Councils namely; Lisburn, Carrickfergus, Castlereagh, North Down, Newtownabbey and Belfast, collaborate on a number of levels including:

 

-     Policy dissemination

-     Plato programme for small businesses

-     Interreg IIIA and IVA funding

-     Hosting inward study visits

 

      The Comet officers’ group comprises the Economic Development Managers of the six Councils and meets once a month to oversee collaborative projects and develop new activity.  They operate under a Service Level Agreement, with BelfastCity Council’s European Unit providing the secretariat.  The Councils have an annual project development budget of £30,000 contributed by the six Councils on a pro-rata basis based on population.

 

      The officers’ group has identified the opportunity to make a focused study visit to Brussels on 17-19 February 2009 to meet with the key senior figures from the European institutions and to meet selected regional offices with a view to developing new transnational projects.  This is particularly in the context of Interreg B and C and the Rural Development programme for NI that dictates that 5% of RDP cluster funding is spent on transnational activity.

 

      Members are asked to agree to the attendance of the Chairman of Development Committee and the Economic Development Manager (or their nominees) to join counterparts from the other five Comet Councils to visit Brussels on 17-19 February 2009.  The cost of this trip will be covered under the Comet Service Level Agreement 2008/2009.

 

      4.   Opportunity Europe 2008

 

      Members will be aware that one of the objectives of the European Unit is to bring Europe closer to the citizens of Belfast.  To this end the Unit hosts an annual European Fest in St George’s Market each October.  In 2008 the event was aimed at all NI post primary school children. Attendance by the schools and the general public cumulated in 7,000 people attending the event on 21?22 October 2008.

 

      In addition to the two day event two off-shoot events were held:

 

-     A schools workshop

-     A Belfast Telegraph schools competition

 

      A great deal of publicity was generated for Belfast City Council in relation to Opportunity 2008.

 

      5.   European Year of Intercultural Dialogue: Closing Conference

 

      2008 was dedicated by the European Commission as the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue (EYID). To mark the year, a number of transnational partnerships were supported to encourage intercultural dialogue. Belfast was one of 23 cities partnering under the EUROCITIES umbrella in a series of best practice exchange visits.  As part of this programme, a delegation undertook a visit to the Berlin Festival in May 2008 and hosted Turin visitors during the BelfastCity Carnival later in the summer.

 

      A final conference and a meeting of the Eurocities Culture Forum is being held in Amsterdam on 5 March 2009 to launch the project’s publication and associated recommendations.  Participants from the 23 cities, the wider EUROCITIES Culture Forum and key European networks will be expected to attend. It is requested that the attendees from each participating city include a youth representative, one Council officer and one Elected Member.

 

      As a member of the project’s Steering Group, Belfast will also present a case study under the ‘Youth’ theme in the afternoon workshops.

 

      Members are asked to agree the participation of the Chairman of the Development Committee (or his nominee) and the previous project participants i.e. the youth representative, the Culture & Arts Manager and the European Officer (who has acted as contact point and co-ordinator) at the closing conference.  The total cost is indicated at a maximum of £3,700.

 

Resource Implications

 

1.   £22,000 maximum for the study visit to Brussels to be funded through the Comet Service Level Agreement annual budget.

 

2.   £3,700 maximum for four delegates to attend the final EYID conference, this amount is included in the current European budget.

 

Recommendations

 

      Members are asked to -

 

-     Note the success of the Open Cities application.

 

-     Note the success of the Interreg IVA multi-annual plan and projects for Belfast and the Comet region.

 

-     Approve the attendance of the Chairman or nominee and Economic Development Manager or nominees at the Comet Brussels Study visit in February 2009 to be funded through the Comet Service Level Agreement budget 08/09 at a maximum cost of £22,000.

 

-     To note the success of the Opportunity Europe event 2008.

 

-     To approve the attendance of the Chairman, the Arts and Culture Officer, a European Officer or their nominees and a Belfast Youth Representative to be nominated by the Belfast Youth Forum at the EYID closing conference in Amsterdam at a maximum cost of £3,700.

 

Abbreviations

 

      NITC–  NI Technology Centre at Queens

      RDP  –  Rural Development Programme

      EYID–  European Year of Intercultural Dialogue”

 

            The Committee adopted the foregoing recommendations.