Minutes:
The Committee was reminded that the Council had established a Belfast Investment Fund (BIF) which was designed to support partnership projects across the city. There was originally £22million available under BIF. In January 2016, the Committee had agreed to ring fence an additional £5million for projects in the areas which had been transferred in from Lisburn and Castlereagh under Local Government Reform as those areas had not had an opportunity to have any BIF projects considered.
The Director of Property and Projects advised that, excluding the projects from areas which had transferred in, there were 23 BIF proposals of which four projects were currently at Stage 3 – Committed. He reminded the Members that, since the previous year, a lot of hard work had been undertaken by project promoters and officers in terms of progressing BIF projects and that a number of those were now at the point of an investment decision. He submitted a report which outlined:
· The current status of the BIF projects including those in the transferring areas;
· Projects recommended to be moved through the Stage Approval process/added to the BIF list on the basis of discussions with the Area Working Groups, Party Briefings and the ongoing work by project promoters; and
· Specific updates in relation to additional ring fenced allocation for the Court District Electoral Area (former Shankill Area Working Group area) and ring fenced allocations for projects within North and South Belfast.
Accordingly it was recommended that the Committee agree to the following recommendations and those as set out in Table 1 below.
· Note that, if projects were recommended to be moved to Stage 3 – Committed, that a maximum BIF allocation was recommended;
· Agree an additional allocation of £1.2million to be ring fenced for projects within the Shankill area of the Court District Electoral Area; and
· Note that it would be mean a total BIF allocation of £23,200,000. The total of the projects proposed to move to stage 3 was £10,560,000 with a further £4,800,000 ring fenced to specific projects.
Table 1 – BIF recommendations
|
PROJECT |
CURRENT STAGE |
|
|
NORTH |
||
|
Cancer Lifeline |
Stage 2 – Uncommitted |
Move to Stage 3 – Committed with a maximum allocation of £650,000 - Subject to the successful acquisition of the adjoining site, the return of a satisfactory tender and the Council acting as delivery agent for the project |
|
Grace Family Centre |
Stage 2 – Uncommitted |
Move to Stage 3 – Committed with a maximum allocation of £1,600,000 - Subject to planning being obtained, the return of a satisfactory tender and the Council acting as delivery agent for the project |
|
Malgrove |
Stage 1 – Emerging |
Hold at Stage 1 - Emerging |
|
Cliftonville Community Forum |
Stage 1 – Emerging |
Hold at Stage 1 – Emerging |
|
Old Grove Masterplan |
Stage 1 – Emerging |
Hold at Stage 1 – Emerging. Agree that a total of £2.25m be ringfenced for emerging projects |
|
Ballysillan Masterplan |
Stage 1 – Emerging |
|
|
SOUTH |
||
|
Lanyon Tunnels |
Stage 2 – Uncommitted |
Move to Stage 3 – Committed with a maximum allocation of £1,300,000 - Subject to LOO from the Executive Office re SIF funding and conditions being confirmed by the Council’s DD team, lease agreements being signed, the return of a satisfactory tender and the Council acting as the delivery agent |
|
Gilpins/Sandy Row |
Stage 2 – Uncommitted |
Hold at Stage 2 – Uncommitted and continue discussions with Urban Villages/local community and stakeholders regarding next steps and to continue to work up the proposals Agree that £1.35m is ringfenced for a project within the Sandy Row UV area |
|
Bredagh |
Stage 1 – Emerging |
Move to Stage 3 – Committed with a maximum allocation of £700,000 - subject to the return of a satisfactory tender |
|
EAST |
||
|
H&W Welders |
Stage 2 – Uncommitted |
Move to Stage 3 – Committed with a maximum allocation of £2,370,000 subject to agreement by Estates and the Town Solicitor in relation to the terms of a long lease, confirmation of funding from DfC, the return of a satisfactory tender and the Council acting as the delivery agent |
|
Bloomfield Community Association |
Stage 2 – Uncommitted |
Move to Stage 3 – Committed with a maximum allocation of £440,000(pending the completion of funding DD of the EA). The outcome of the funding DD (review of the EA) will be brought back to the East AWG and Committee once this has been completed |
|
Strand Cinema |
Stage 2 – Uncommitted |
Hold at Stage 2 – Uncommitted to allow discussions to continue regarding securing match funding for the project. Report on costs to be brought to a future East AWG |
|
East Belfast Mission |
Stage 1 – Emerging |
Hold at Stage 1 – Emerging |
|
Lagan Valley Youth & Community Group |
N/A |
Add as Stage 1 – Emerging Recommended by the East AWG at its meeting on 15th Sept |
|
Belmont Bowling Club |
N/A |
Add as Stage 1 – Emerging Recommended by the East AWG at its meeting on 15th Sept |
|
WEST |
||
|
St. Comgall’s |
Stage 2 – Uncommitted |
Move to Stage 3 – Committed with a maximum allocation of £3,500,000 - Subject to LOO from the Executive Office re SIF funding and conditions being confirmed by the Council’s DD team, planning being obtained, the return of a satisfactory tender and the Council being the delivery agent |
|
St. Mary’s CBS |
Stage 2 – Uncommitted |
Hold at Stage 2- Uncommitted |
|
Glencairn Community project |
Stage 1 – Emerging |
Move to Stage 2 – Uncommitted - to allow project to be worked up and accurately costed £1.2m additional allocation to be ringfenced (see above) to Shankill area. Amount to be allocated to Glencairn project to be determined once detailed costings are complete. |
|
Suffolk community Forum |
Stage 1 – Emerging |
Hold at Stage 1 – Emerging |
|
Belfast Hills |
Stage 1 – Emerging |
Hold at Stage 1 – Emerging |
|
An Sportlann |
Stage 1 – Emerging |
Hold at Stage 1 – Emerging |
Moved by Councillor Long,
Seconded by Councillor Jones,
That the Committee agrees to refer the East Belfast projects back to the East Area Working Group to enable information which had been supplied by the Strand Cultural Centre to be considered at the next meeting before any decision on the projects was taken.
On a vote by show of hands four members voted for the proposal and thirteen against and it was accordingly declared lost.
The Committee accordingly adopted the recommendations and agreed that the necessary procurement processes, including the implementation of tenders and/or the use of appropriate “framework” arrangements, be initiated for BIF projects as required, with contracts to be awarded on the basis of the most economically advantageous tenders received and full commitment to deliver.
Supporting documents: