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 update Members on Belfast City Council’s Shared Island Development Fund supported projects which are progressing in partnership with Dublin City Council and Cork City Council.

 

2.0       Recommendations

 

2.1       The Members of the Committee are asked to:

 

                                            i          Note that Belfast, represented by Belfast City Council, has been liaising with both Dublin City Council and Cork City Council in the development of projects under the Shared Island Development Fund.

                                          ii          Projects must be led by a Local Authority from the South of Ireland, working in partnership with a Local Authority from Northern Ireland.

                                         iii          Three projects have been funded to date through the Shared Island Development Fund:

 

·        Dublin/Belfast Circular Economy Initiative (€250k)

·        Cork/Belfast Climate and Docklands Initiative (€90k)

·        Dublin Belfast Economic Corridor Initiative (€150k)

 

                                        iv          A detailed report on the Dublin Belfast Economic Corridor Initiative will be provided separately from this report.

                                          v          Further opportunities through the Shared Island Community Climate Action Programme and Creative Ireland programme are being explored at present with contacts in Dublin, Cork and Galway, with further updates to be provided should these opportunities progress to become funded projects.

                                         vi          A further scheme to support EV charging for sports clubs is currently open with expressions of interest to be presented through governing bodies. This process is taking place independently of the Local Authority to Local Authority projects referred to above, however is relevant to the development of the Belfast EVI Strategy and ongoing discussions on the introduction of additional EV charging points in the city.

 

3.0       Main report

 

3.1       Background

 

3.2       Belfast City Council has been liaising with both Dublin City Council and Cork City Council in the development of projects under the Shared Island Development Fund. Projects must be led by a Local Authority from the South of Ireland, working in partnership with a Local Authority from Northern Ireland. Three projects have been funded to date through the Shared Island Development Fund:

 

1.      Dublin/Belfast Circular Economy Initiative (€250k)

2.      Cork/Belfast Climate and Docklands Initiative (€90k)

3.      Dublin Belfast Economic Corridor Initiative (€150k)

 

            These projects are described in more detail below.

 

            Dublin and Belfast Circular Economy initiative

 

3.3       Dublin City Council in partnership with Belfast City Council (BCC), are striving to make their respective cities leaders in the transition to a circular economy. The successful proposal under the Shared Island Fund will involve undertaking a feasibility assessment to enable the development of capital projects in Dublin and Belfast that support the expansion of the circular economy island wide leading to a Connected Circular Economy. At present, Dublin and Belfast are developing their circular economy ecosystems and have established strengths and partnerships that will contribute to identifying challenges and opportunities to be explored and addressed in the feasibility assessment.

 

3.4       The project aims to develop an implementation plan for realising a Connected Circular Economy that builds on the existing strengths of both cities and unlocks the latent potential of private enterprise identified via the feasibility assessment. Both cities recognise through their independent efforts described in detail in the appendix, that there are significant gaps that need to be identified and addressed to bring coherence to existing policies and plans. The aim is to identify and address these gaps through this feasibility assessment with funding from the Shared Island Fund. This will include feasibility on the capital expenditure needs, and economic analysis. This will be carried out according to the Public Spending Code and under UK ‘Green Book’ guidelines to present both authorities with a detailed and robust case to guide investment decisions.

 

3.5       The primary objective of the feasibility assessment is to inform the development of an official business case for delivering infrastructure and programming for a Connected Circular Economy between Dublin and Belfast. A partnership between the two largest local authorities on the Island, will provide opportunities to create scale, exchange knowledge and complement initiatives on an all- island basis. The feasibility assessment will identify how and what we need to invest in, to realise a Connected Circular Economy and to take advantage of the opportunities provided by all-island co-operation. The feasibility will focus on the economic and social potential of the circular economy, as well as sustainability and climate change – in other words how can the circular economy support a just transition by creating jobs that strengthen communities affected by the transition away from fossil fuels.

 

3.6       This will then help both Belfast and Dublin City Council to evaluate and to prepare a comprehensive business case for a Shared Island capital project that results in a Connected Circular Economy, with infrastructure needs and support regimes informed by evidence, expert knowledge and lived experience of SMEs. Tender submissions will be assessed on the 23rd  March 2023.

 

 

            Cork and Belfast Solar PV Study

 

3.7       Both Belfast and Cork cities are developing ambitious climate action spans that will incorporate a mix of technical and behavioural change interventions required to address climate change adaptation and mitigation. Some of the interventions needed will involve significant capital investment.  This project will focus primarily on examining best practice and innovative measures that could be used to scale the uptake of rooftop solar PV across both cities.

 

3.8       The overall objective is to develop a scoping study a focused on scaling the uptake of rooftop solar PV solution in the two cities.  This will be achieved by initially identifying five public buildings in each city and assessing their suitability for solar PV. The specific objectives are to:

 

1.     determine low, medium and high levels of potential rooftop solar PV installations based upon total roof space, building orientation, assumptions re building age and condition;

2.      review the policy and regulatory frameworks including any support schemes that apply to rooftop solar in Cork and Belfast and identify current barriers to rooftop solar PV installation;

3.      determine the necessary (policy, institutional, financial) interventions required to stimulate rooftop solar PV installations at the low, medium and high levels of penetration;

4.      review current initiatives being used to scale solar PV solutions and prepare a at least 5 rooftop solar PV case studies to showcase best practice for a range of different building types (e.g. domestic, school, public sector, community-use, retail/office building);

5.      identify one or more eligible projects that can be taken forward under phase 2.

 

3.9       The scoping study will be prepared by experienced and qualified consultants in the area of energy planning include national and international context and best practice. A small working group will be formed to guide the preparation of the Strategy. The working group will include:

 

-       Solar PV installers

-       Building managers and property owners

-       Local authority climate representatives

-       Local authority energy representatives

 

3.10      A second strand of the scoping study will undertake a 3D spatial analysis of VU.CITY’s highly accurate 3D model of Belfast, to understand the potential for Solar Rooftop PV across the whole city of Belfast, with a particular focus on the potential for carbon emissions savings within a smaller selection of council-owned buildings. This work will include:

 

·        identification of flat roofs across Belfast that are suitable for PV installation;

·        calculation of potential kWh for each rooftop (including a detailed assessment of ~10 council-owned buildings, and then a more approximate calculation for all other buildings); and

·        where power consumption data is available, we will calculate the saved emissions (dependant on provision of suitable data from Belfast CC)

 

3.11      The scoping study will inform a phase 2 application for capital funding to scale solar PV across both cities with Local Authorities as exemplars in this area making effective use of their rooftop real estate to reduce their energy costs and achieve local and national climate action targets.

 

3.12      Cork and Belfast Docklands Regeneration

 

3.13      This project focus arose from the opportunity to connect two important maritime economies and drive decarbonisation, growth and innovation. Ports are key hubs for trade and investment and support SME's and employ thousands of workers. Significant capital investment is planned for both the Belfast Waterside and Cork City Docklands areas. These are two of the largest regeneration areas in Europe. Belfast City Council and Cork City Council have secured funding under the Shared Island initiative to assess the synergies and opportunities to overcome the existing challenges within the respective areas. This work will set the wider benefits of the proposed Cork-Belfast collaboration under the Shared Island initiative, and to provide a list of catalyst regeneration projects including providing spatial requirements, connectivity infrastructure and place-making requirements and capital investment schedules for the emerging list in conjunction with key stakeholders within each of the respective areas. 

 

3.14      This scoping work will identify opportunities and mechanisms for collaboration between the two waterfront areas aligned to Climate Action, inclusive community connectivity, heritage, tourism and innovation.

 

3.15      Further updates on these scoping studies will be brought to a future meeting of this Committee.

 

3.16      Additional information

 

3.17      A detailed report on the Dublin Belfast Economic Corridor Initiative will be provided separately from this report.

 

3.18      Further opportunities through the Shared Island Community Climate Action Programme and Creative Ireland programme are being explored at present with contacts in Dublin, Cork and Galway, with further updates to be provided should these opportunities progress to become funded projects.

 

3.19      A further scheme to support EV charging for sports clubs is currently open with expressions of interest to be presented through governing bodies. This process is taking place independently of the Local Authority to Local Authority projects referred to above, however is relevant to the development of the Belfast EVI Strategy and ongoing discussions on the introduction of additional EV charging points in the city.

 

4.0       Financial & Resource Implications

 

4.1       Belfast City Council and Cork City Council 90,000 Euro, of which 45,000 Euro is allocated to Climate Initiative (Solar PV) and 45,000 Euro for Harbour Initiative.

 

4.2       Belfast City Council and Dublin City Council 250,000 Euro, to undertake feasibility works to lead to potential capital works that link Dublin and Belfast circular economies through learning and operation.

 

5.0       Equality or Good Relations Implications/Rural Needs Assessment

 

5.1       Officers are currently developing the Equality, Good Relations and Rural Needs Screening and will incorporate within the emerging proposals.”

 

            A Member raised the matter of funding available through the shared island fund and asked officers to explore potential opportunities that would be available to the Council.  Officers agreed to bring a report to Strategic Policy and Resources Committee aligning all funding opportunities available to the Council.  The Member also raised the possibility of officers from Belfast City Council conducting an exchange with officers in Dublin City Council and the Director of City and Organisational Strategy agreed to pursue the possibility of this exchange.

 

Noted