Minutes:
The Director of City Regeneration and Development provided the Committee with background information on the Belfast Waterfront Task Group, which was chaired by the Council’s Chief Executive and included representatives from the Maritime Belfast Trust, Belfast City Council, Belfast Harbour, Titanic Quarter Limited, Department for Communities, Department for Infrastructure, Department for Economy, Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Tourism NI, Odyssey Trust, Sailortown Regeneration, EastSide Partnership and the Lower Ormeau Resident's Action Group.
She reported that the Task Group had been established, in response to the city’s ‘A Bolder Vision’ key move ‘Embrace the River Lagan and Waterfront’, to scope how the waterfront could fully realise its potential as a connected, vibrant corridor which would link with key destinations, neighbourhood communities and the city centre. She highlighted that a key objective of the Task Group had been to agree a place-making framework for the city’s waterfront promenade and advised that a progress update in relation to the projects within the framework would be provided following the presentation by the Task Group representatives.
The Chairperson welcomed the following representatives of the Belfast Waterfront Task Group to the meeting:
§ Ms. Kerrie Sweeney, Chief Executive, Maritime Belfast Trust;
§ Ms. Michele Bryans, Chief Executive, EastSide Partnership; and
§ Mr. Gerard Rice, Lower Ormeau Resident's Action Group.
Ms. Sweeney provided the Committee with an update in relation to the Belfast Promenade Framework, which had been developed by the Belfast Waterfront Task Group to set out a long-term vision to help transform the city’s waterfront.
She outlined the waterfront’s distinct character areas and development opportunities and provided an update in relation to the current strands of work, including the development of a Maritime Story Plan, which provided a framework to help guide the development of the waterfront and had also identified heritage sites, and the commissioning of a Blueway feasibility study to explore the potential to establish a Blueway along the waterfront in line with the Blueway Ireland Accreditation.
Ms. Sweeney reported that the Belfast Historic Waterfront had been designated as a Heritage Place, one of only two in Northern Ireland, through the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s ‘Heritage Places’ initiative. She stated that the funding would help deliver capital and revenue projects along the waterfront with potential themes in relation to community capacity building and engagement, heritage preservation and conservation, biodiversity, nature and access to water, waterfront promenade connectivity, animation and activation, and destination and organisation sustainability.
She concluded the presentation by providing the Committee with indicative timescales in relation to the ‘Heritage Places’ initiative, including the announcement, development stage and the overall project delivery.
During discussion, the representatives answered a range of question from the Members in relation to community capacity building and engagement, funding, upscaling city events, Sailortown and the balancing of access to the river with biodiversity and nature. The representatives highlighted the positive engagement that had taken place in respect of the Waterfront Framework and the benefits that had been realised by local communities through participation in the Task Group. It was reported that the Task Group would provide a number of avenues to build capacity and offer along the waterfront for existing and new communities.
After discussion, the Chairperson thanked the representatives for their attendance and presentation and the Committee noted the information which had been provided.