Belfast can learn from Ballymun says Ritchie

Belfast can learn from Ballymun in Dublin when it comes to regenerating key areas of the city.

That was a key message when Margaret Ritchie MLA, Minister for Social Development, visited housing and regeneration projects in Dublin during her first official North/South visit to the city. At present the Minister is considering regenerating plans for a number of key sites across Belfast. To ensure she gets the infrastructure right here, she is meeting with Government Ministers and visiting regeneration schemes in Dublin, including Ballymun.

An area once renowned for poverty, dereliction and drugs, Ballymun is being transformed. Dilapidated housing has been replaced with attractive new homes in a scheme that integrates social, affordable and private housing. Included are new public amenities, including shops and leisure facilities, and employment opportunities that previously just did not exist.

In visiting Ballymun, along with the Republic’s Minister of State for Housing and Urban Regeneration, Batt O’Keefe, Margaret Ritchie said:

“Not so long ago people were desperate to get out of Ballymun. Now they are desperate to get in. How did that happen? What lessons can we learn? How do we put the needs of communities first in that process? Ensuring people want to live in that community. Ensuring they want to stay in that community.

“My visit to Dublin therefore and Ballymun in particular, has reinforced my view that successful regeneration brings together the public and private sector. They need to work together with community interests to build neighbourhoods and communities that people want to live in and be part of.”

During the packed two-day visit, the Minister also visited the Fatima Regeneration Project, Dublin Docklands and affordable homes in Finglas. Minister Ritchie also met with her opposite numbers Irish Ministers John Gormley and Tony Killeen in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Minister Ritchie heard how the Irish Government had tackled their own housing affordability issues and in particular was interested to hear how developer contributions had been introduced to support the supply of social and affordable housing across the South.

The Minister concluded: “I will be working very closely with my southern counterparts to ensure we achieve best practice in housing and regeneration, north and south. There is a lot we can learn from each other and a lot of good work we can do together on an all island basis.”

Notes to Editors:

1. The regeneration of Ballymun was made possible through a Masterplan that gave an overview of the project, land uses and development needs of the area. Currently the Department for Social Development is involved in a Masterplanning process for a number of sites across the North.
2. Masterplans provide a basis for planned intervention and identify potential implications for economic and social development, the likely market response to intervention, timescales and potential delivery vehicles. The Department has supported Masterplans, development frameworks or town centre development strategies in Coleraine, Lurgan, Newry, Portadown, and Strabane. Work is currently underway on masterplans or strategies in Belfast and Derry, and for Antrim, Ballycastle, Ballymena, and Omagh.
3. The Department is considering the immediate need for masterplans for Armagh, Carrickfergus, Larne and Lisburn. Lessons from this visit to Dublin, and the Minister’s earlier visit to projects being delivered by English Partnerships in London, will be taken forward in the development of these and future schemes.
4. The recently published good practice guide, Vital & Viable, sets out the Department’s approach to the regeneration of cities and towns using an overarching framework.
5. For further information, please contact Philip Maguire, Principal Information Officer DSD on 028 9082 9490, mobile 07788 108 657. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Office via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.