Ritchie visits Belfast peaceline and announces £7million improvement schemes
Thursday, 19 July 2007Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie MLA today announced a £7 million package of environmental improvements to disadvantaged areas of Belfast.
During a visit to west Belfast and the greater Shankill where she visited the peaceline, the Minister said that the aim was to create safe and attractive neighbourhoods and improve the key routes linking these areas with the city centre. The money will be used to improve public spaces for local residents, typically through provision of better street lighting, landscaping, paving and parking facilities.
Ms Ritchie saw two projects already underway as part of the scheme, which are helping to improve living conditions for communities on both sides of the peaceline at Clonard and Cupar Way.
The minister said, “My Department often works with communities that are divided by peacelines. While I recognise that peacelines are there because of fear and real safety concerns, I look forward to a future without these walls and I believe that we must all work towards that day.
“By its work in these areas and through engagement with local people, my Department is playing its part in this process.”
Emphasising that the improvement programme announced today complements work underway in Belfast city centre, the Minister said: “Improvements to the physical environment are vital to create a positive image of an area. These schemes will help make some of our most disadvantaged neighbourhoods safe and attractive. This is in line with our commitment to renew neighbourhoods and communities.”
The Minister commented on how Bombay Street in the Clonard Area has already benefited from a £350,000 facelift delivered by DSD’s Belfast Regeneration Office and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, in consultation with the Clonard Residents Association. She then viewed an environmental improvement scheme on Cupar Way, where 70 semi-mature trees have been planted on what was previously an area of desolation along the peaceline.
Ms Ritchie also took time to visit nearby Lawnbrook Avenue in the greater Shankill area, where she toured a new £7.5 million family housing scheme which is being built on previously derelict land acquired by the Belfast Regeneration Office.
The Minister said: “Today I have seen some of the excellent regeneration work being carried out by Belfast Regeneration Office, in partnership with local communities, the private sector and other statutory bodies such as the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, Roads Service and Belfast City Council. The family housing on Lawnbrook Avenue, the improvements on Cupar Way and work to brighten public space in Bombay Street are excellent examples of the types of projects necessary to restore confidence to communities hardest hit by years of conflict.”
The Minister concluded: “The areas beside the peacelines in north and west Belfast have long been identified as some of the most underprivileged, run down and deprived in Belfast. The projects which I have observed today are an excellent start to the process of regenerating these areas and turning their prospects around.”
NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. Projects which have already been completed or are underway include:
Sandy Row/ Lower Donegall Road
Provision of street lighting at Linfield Road
Creation of lay-by on Sandy Row
Summer planting of hanging baskets
Donegall Road/ Greater Village
Community Garden at Roden Street
New street lighting on the Donegall Road
Community artwork on bridge at Roden Street
Ardoyne Road
New street lighting
Provision of trees and tree guards
Northumberland Street/Agnes Street, Glen Road, Whiterock Road Suffolk Road and Kennedy Way
Extensive tree planting
Lower Shankill Road
Provision of new pathways
Tree planting and soft landscaping
Installation of railings, gates and pillars
Suffolk Estate
Removal of planters and timber fencing
Erection of decorative fencing
2. Areas in which schemes are expected over the next two years are set out below. Progressing these is subject to agreement and consultation with local representatives and the local community, as well as statutory and planning approvals where necessary. Proposals range from road surface treatments to installation of new lighting, seating, tree planting, landscaping etc:
- Woodvale Park
- Ballysillan Road
- Wheatfield Estate
- Cromac Street
- Newtownards Road
- Woodstock Link
- Ravenhill Gateway
- Glen Road
- Suffolk Road
- Whiterock Road
- Highfield Estate
- Shankill Road
- Ardoyne Road
3. The Government’s Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy ‘People and Place’ was published in June 2003 to close 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.
4. A programme of improvements to secondary arterial routes was announced as an element of the Renewing Communities Action Plan, published in April 2006.
5. Media enquiries to DSD Information Office on 028 90829078. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.
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