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• Your City, Your Space strategy

Your City, Your Space strategy

We have set aside £8 million for Your City, Your Space – a strategy which aims to protect and improve parks and open spaces in Belfast.

We want to make our parks more inviting, safer, more accessible and fit for local needs.

You can read the strategy or you can request a copy by calling 028 9032 0202.

What is Your City, Your Space?

Your City, Your Space is our vision of how Belfast’s open spaces will develop between now and 2020.

The strategy, which will cost up to £40 million to put in place, is the result of two years of public consultation.

It’s the largest ongoing investment in parks and open spaces for many years and will improve the following areas:

• design
• management
• heritage value
• levels of community involvement in Belfast’s public places.

The open space strategy ties in with other schemes we’re working on, such as:

• our Capital City Agenda
• Brighter Belfast
• our Belfast Masterplan
• our Arterial Routes programme.

Why do we need it?

Parks, playgrounds, sports pitches and other open spaces are essential facilities for everyone who lives in and visits Belfast.

Our open spaces add to the overall quality of our lifestyles, our environment and Belfast’s unique identity.

We know how important open spaces are in Belfast and we want to make the most of our environmental assets.

How will Your City, Your Space work?

The strategy reflects the needs and hopes of Belfast’s residents and will be delivered through four strategic themes:

• people and community - helping local people take control of their open spaces
• our heritage - protecting and improving open spaces that support and promote our natural, built and social heritage
• healthier places - providing a network of open spaces that we can all enjoy and that will help improve our quality of life
• safer space - creating and maintaining open spaces where we can all feel at ease.

Read the strategy

We've broken the Your City, Your Space document into six easy-to-read sections:

• Introduction and contents (PDF - 1.1MB)

Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Jim Rodgers and Maurice Parkinson, former head of the Parks and Cemeteries Services section, explain why the Your City, Your Space strategy is so important.

• The case for open space (PDF - 472 KB)

We explain why we need open spaces in Belfast, how they fit into our overall plans for the city and what our priorities are.

• What we plan to do (PDF - 780 KB)

The problems facing our parks and open spaces, how we plan to solve them and what you told us you would like us to do.

• Funding (PDF - 788 KB)

How we plan to fund and deliver the Your City, Your Space strategy and put our plans into practice.

• Appendices (PDF - 2.06 MB)

Additional information about Community Greenways, Risk Assessment and our Open Space planning model.

• Bibliography (PDF - 1.31 MB)

Works referenced in the Your City, Your Space strategy.

Get in touch

If you would like more information about the Your City, Your Space strategy, contact us at:

Parks and Cemeteries Services
Cecil Ward Building
4-10 Linenhall Street
Belfast BT2 8BP

Tel: 028 9032 0202
Email parksinfo@belfastcity.gov.uk