Minister Ritchie announces £500,000 boost for Brownlow

Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie MLA today announced funding of over £576,000 for environmental improvements in the Brownlow area of Craigavon.

The Minister’s approval of funding will assist a major package of environmental improvements to include:

• the erection of improved signage throughout the area;
• the construction of estate entrance features;
• the provision of additional car parking spaces to meet modern day demands;
• the upgrading of the footways in the area and;
• the cleaning up of the linear park to include the installation of three site specific permanent artworks along the linear stream.

The projects are being funded by the Department for Social Development through the Neighbourhood Renewal Investment Fund. Additional contributions totalling over £100,000 are being made available from the Arts Council for Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, Craigavon Borough Council and Roads Service.

The Minister said: “The provision of environmental enhancements is an important aspect of the Neighbourhood Renewal strategy which recognises the benefits of physical improvements as a means of developing a sense of community identity and pride and helping to create safer more attractive neighbourhoods where residents will want to live and bring up their families.”

The work will complement projects already funded through Neighbourhood Renewal in Brownlow. These include a multi-use games area opened in the summer at Ardowen and Parkmore and the extension to the Bluestone Business Park, recently approved at a cost of just under £900,000.

The Minister acknowledged the role of the other funding bodies and the Brownlow Neighbourhood Partnership who had identified the need for the schemes in its Vision Framework and Action Plan for regenerating the area. She said: “One of the key factors in successfully tackling deprivation and assisting regeneration is through a partnership approach involving the public, private and community sectors. I recognise the important role which community representatives have to play as an equal partner in this process and I am committed to ensuring that local people have the capacity to contribute to the decision making process.”

Notes to Editors:

1. The Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy 'People and Place' which was published in June 2003, sets out government’s proposals for closing the gap between the quality of life for people in the most deprived neighbourhoods and the rest of society.

The Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy has four interlinking strategic objectives:

• Community Renewal - to develop confident communities that are able and committed to improving the quality of life in their areas.
• Economic Renewal - to develop economic activity in the most deprived neighbourhoods and connect them to the wider urban economy.
• Social Renewal - to improve social conditions for the people who live in the most deprived neighbourhoods through better co-ordinated public services and the creation of safer environments.
• Physical Renewal - to help create attractive, safe and sustainable environments in the most deprived neighbourhoods.

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