Minutes:
The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 10th December, it had agreed to receive a presentation from the Belfast City Centre Management company in respect of its range of new initiatives and the development of its existing activities.
It was reported that Mr. B. McGivern, Chairman, Belfast City Centre Management company, and Mr. Andrew Irvine, City Centre Manager, were in attendance and they were admitted to the meeting and welcomed by the Chairman.
Mr. Irvine advised the Committee that Belfast City Centre Management sought to deliver additional services for the City centre on behalf of its core funders in order to contribute, in a measurable way, to the development of a cleaner, safer, more attractive and more accessible City. He pointed out that the company had three main objectives, namely:
(i) delivering direct City centre services;
(ii) facilitating and assisting in the delivery of its funders’ City centre Initiatives; and
(iii)direct liaison with City centre businesses.
Mr. Irvine indicated that the work of the company was extremely important to the success of Belfast City centre and was crucial in securing the support of the private sector for key Council initiatives. He drew the Committee’s attention to a number of schemes which had been developed by the company, including the Belfast Against Night Disorder (BAND) scheme, the Retail Crimewatch and Radiolink Schemes,
the proposed Taxis Scheme, which he indicated was designed to clear revellers quickly from the City centre between midnight and 3.00 a.m. and would complement the Council’s Get Home Safe Scheme campaign, and the Urban Management Initiative, which sought to provide information to traders in respect of the Streets Ahead Programme.
In relation to Belfast City Council events, the Centre City Manager reported that work was ongoing with the officers from the Development Department and that the Chamber of Trade and Commerce was seeking to deliver a co-ordinated “Belfast 2009 Events and Street Animation Programme”. Mr. Irvine suggested that one of the biggest problems within the City centre was traffic management and he displayed for the information of the Members several photographs depicting problems associated with vehicles entering the restricted-access zone. He indicated that there had been 29,000 illegal vehicle movements per month through the zone. He then highlighted the problems of taxi parking within the City and, in particular, at the taxi rank adjacent to the City Hall.
Mr. Irvine reported on his organisation’s work in relation to the Economy Activity of the City and the development of the character of the City. He then addressed a number of issues which had been raised at previous meetings, including disabled access to the City centre, the Streets Ahead Programme, the proposed Taxi Scheme and the erection of Christmas lighting within the Castle Street area.
Mr. McGivern advised the Committee that his organisation had had several meetings with Translink in relation to the traffic management of the buses throughout the City centre. In relation to the Streets Ahead project, there were problems with the co-ordination of work planning between the Department of the Environment, the Department for Social Development and the Department for Regional Development.
Several Members highlighted the problems associated with the Streets Ahead project pointing out the lack of co-ordination between the various Statutory Bodies and utility companies, which they had suggested was not good practice. In addition to its detraction from the attractiveness of the City, it had caused disruption to pedestrians and, particularly, to wheelchair users. In this regard the Members suggested that it might be a useful mechanism to establish a Working Group between the various Statutory Bodies and Utilities Companies along similar lines to the new Belfast Group which operated in the City and had sought to bring all the relevant agencies together to work for the betterment of Belfast. The Members sought clarification as to whether this Group was still in existence.
In regard to café culture throughout the City, the Chairman indicated that, following meetings with the Department for the Environment, there might, in the near future, be a relaxation in the barriers which had been placed in the way of development of such a culture throughout the City.
Mr. Irvine and Mr. McGivern then answered several questions in regard to the parking of all buses in the City centre, the Taxi Scheme, traffic management and the income achieved by the company. Mr. McGivern indicated that there were problems in dealing with a number of utility companies and he suggested that it might be worth
investigating what liabilities, if any, had transferred from the public authorities, such as the Council, to the private companies which had taken over the utility supply role within the City. He pointed out also that he was very supportive of the idea of a cross?departmental group which could co-ordinate work in the City centre.
The members of the deputation thanked the Committee for receiving them and they retired from the meeting.
The Committee noted the information which had been provided.