Urban Village Projects: Update

Oral Answers to Questions — Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 2:15 pm on 13 April 2015.

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Photo of Peter Weir Peter Weir DUP 2:15, 13 April 2015

6. Mr Weir asked the First Minister and deputy First Minister for an update on urban villages projects, under Together: Building a United Community. (AQO 7894/11-15)

Photo of Gerry Kelly Gerry Kelly Sinn Féin

8. Mr G Kelly asked the First Minister and deputy First Minister to outline the plans in place for the north Belfast urban village project, as part of Together: Building a United Community. (AQO 7896/11-15)

Photo of Martin McGuinness Martin McGuinness Sinn Féin

Mr Speaker, with your permission, I will ask junior Minister McCann to answer the question.

Photo of Jennifer McCann Jennifer McCann Sinn Féin

Mr Speaker, with your permission, I will answer questions 6 and 8 together.

On 20 March 2014, the First Minister and deputy First Minister announced the first two urban village locations as Colin town centre and lower Newtownards Road. Work is progressing, and stakeholder engagement is ongoing regarding the development of both locations. Plans are progressing to develop a coherent town centre for the Colin area, with inputs from a range of Departments. Community engagement commenced on the lower Newtownards Road in October 2014. Options on developing concepts to deliver a sustainable urban village are being considered in conjunction with stakeholders. Junior Minister Bell and I announced three further urban village locations recently: the Markets, Donegall Pass and Sandy Row and the Bogside and the Fountain on 21 January; and Ardoyne and Ballysillan on 16 February. That brings the number of urban village projects to five, which is one more than was originally committed to in the strategy.

The next step is to establish a project team for each new urban village to engage and work with the community to determine the boundaries of the urban villages, assess what is needed and develop the priorities for each area. The Department for Social Development has convened a programme board to coordinate and oversee the planning, design and delivery of all aspects of the urban villages. Project boards will be set up for each of the urban villages. Those will be supported by the urban villages strategic board, which is chaired by junior Minister Bell and me.

Photo of Peter Weir Peter Weir DUP

I thank the junior Minister for her response. Can she elaborate on the more recently announced project for the Markets, Donegall Pass and Sandy Row? What progress is being made there, and what is the timeline?

Photo of Jennifer McCann Jennifer McCann Sinn Féin

They are all at different levels. At the minute, people are consulting community stakeholders to see first what the boundaries in the urban villages are going to be and then what the priorities are. The difference between urban villages and other things that have happened is that urban villages are going to be community-led. There will be three different governance structures: one at the strategic level; another at a board level; and one with stakeholders from the community sector, who will be engaging. The project that the Member mentions is in the co-design process.

Photo of Gerry Kelly Gerry Kelly Sinn Féin

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as a freagraí go dtí seo.

The junior Minister went through a number of projects. Can she tell me, even by rule of thumb, when the physical work might start? I am interested to know that for any of the urban village projects, but particularly that in north Belfast.

Photo of Jennifer McCann Jennifer McCann Sinn Féin

As I said in my previous answer, each area is at a different level at the moment. The indicative costs for each urban village will be different, and, as we are in the co-design process — each of the urban villages will have its own unique design — it is impossible to give a sense of the cost. However, once we have a sense of what is needed, we will put a cost to it. It has been confirmed that £2·46 million will be taken out of the Together: Building a United Community overall budget to take forward the urban village programme. Once we see the co-design and work with people on the ground, first to design the boundaries and then to see what the people in each local community want — because this is about what the people in the local community want for their urban village — we can put a cost to it and hopefully see something happening. However, the process for both the resource and capital build is ongoing.

Photo of William Humphrey William Humphrey DUP

What is the structure and process that will take forward the Ardoyne and Ballysillan urban village in my constituency, which I very much welcome?

Photo of Jennifer McCann Jennifer McCann Sinn Féin

As I said, there are three different levels of governance. There is the strategic board and then a board working under that, which is made up of the Departments. The reason for having the strategic board that junior Minister Bell and I chair is so that we can ensure that there is buy-in from all Departments and that they are working together on this. You then have the other level, where you have the person responsible — particularly in DSD, because it is the lead Department — taking the project forward and the community sector involved. There are three different governance levels, and they are all working together, particularly on the co-design.

As I said in my previous answers to the other Members, the co-design process will take place first. People will decide what they want from that, and we will then have to look at the resource implications of its delivery — that includes the Strategic Investment Board — and what capital build is required. As I said, each urban village will be unique in its own right, but the thread that will run through all of them is that they will come from the community and will be about its needs and getting to those needs.