Our people and communities
Making life better for all our residents
Our people and communities are at the heart of Belfast. We will strive to ensure that we can positively impact the quality of life and wellbeing of all our residents and continue to address key issues at a local level.
We will also continue to engage with key partners and networks to encourage more participation and engagement in communities, ensuring that local people can have a say in the key challenges within their neighbourhoods.
Community and Neighbourhood Regeneration
Physical Programme
Working in partnership to leverage significant investment from external sources towards ongoing delivery of the £600million Physical Programme, creating new community assets and a wide range of facilities across the city.
Highlights include:
- delivery of Cathedral Gardens, a state-of-the-art open space in the city centre
- major improvements to parks including the Urban Villages £6.9million Ballysillan Playing Fields project
- €13.5million PEACEPLUS Reconnected Belfast: Waterworks and Alexandra Park
Working with a range of partners including National Lottery Heritage Fund, we will redevelop the Strand Arts Centre, preserving and enhancing this iconic cinema.
Invest in our neighbourhoods
We will work with our community planning partners to develop a joined-up approach to neighbourhood regeneration by developing tailored, placed-based interventions addressing specific social economic needs.
We will continue to deliver our £10.28million Neighbourhood Regeneration Fund that will support local voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) groups across Belfast to deliver capital projects in their communities which help develop neighbourhood tourism, improve environmental sustainability, and support the city’s social economy.
The council will take a strategic approach towards the development and management of neighbourhood assets and facilities, exploring opportunities for community wealth building and asset transfers to support and facilitate community ownership where possible.
Focus will also be given to developing key arterial routes that will connect our communities. We will continue to develop ways to strengthen community participation through inclusive co-design and ensure residents have a say in issues and interventions in their areas.
Enhance our open spaces and physical assets
Enhancement and improvement of our public spaces and facilities as part of our physical programme will be prioritised to support accessibility as well as physical, social and emotional wellbeing for all.
This work will include the continued delivery of our annual Playground Improvement Programme to ensure that young people can access high quality outdoor play facilities from an early age. We will also deliver animation programmes in our five new parks:
- Páirc Nua Chollan
- Ballysillan
- Marrowbone
- Pitt Park.
We will continue to deliver on our Belfast Open Spaces strategy for 2035 through the implementation of a revised action plan, in line with its strategic principles.
We will work with our partners to deliver a programme of Greenways, pathways and Access to the Hills projects including:
- Sydenham
- Blackstaff
- West Belfast and Colin Greenways
- Black Mountain, Glencairn, Ligoniel and Squire's Hill pathways
Build capacity within our communities
Our communities are an essential part of the fabric of Belfast. We will provide physical investment, revenue support and funding to enhance community capacity. We will continue to build on our engagement framework to ensure the support we offer meets local needs and addresses key challenges to help deliver long-lasting and sustainable impact.
We will also continue to be responsive in times of need and develop interventions to support those most affected by emerging or ongoing social issues such as the cost-of-living crisis and support our local VCSE organisations through council-managed grant programmes.
Health inequalities
Support the delivery of integrated health services
We will continue to work in partnership with key agencies to deliver a local area approach to reduce health inequalities and address key health related challenges across Belfast. Improved co-ordination and integration of established systems and processes can help to deliver a ‘One Belfast Vulnerability Model’ to support interventions such as Complex Lives which is aimed at vulnerable people identified as being impacted by chronic homelessness.
Increase opportunities for people to be physically active
Evidence demonstrates that leading an active life with a healthy lifestyle brings multiple health benefits. We want to increase the number of people in Belfast that lead active, healthy lifestyles throughout the course of their lives.
Our approach will be underpinned by our Belfast Physical Activity and Sports Development Strategy which will bring together partners across the community, voluntary and statutory sectors with residents, clubs, schools, leisure providers and others to develop a locally led approach to improving participating in physical activity, recreation and sport.
We will also continue to invest in our leisure provision through our Leisure Transformation Programme to ensure that our leisure centres and programmes deliver quality services that meet the needs of our communities.
We will deliver our Parks Improvement Programme and continue to deliver our pitch surface replacement programme. This will ensure our facilities are kept to a high standard, enhancing the playing experience and delivering health benefits.
