Compassionate city
Making Belfast a shared, welcoming, caring, fair and inclusive city - leaving no one behind
As a compassionate city, we recognise the complexity and diversity of our people, and we are determined to make life better for everyone. To do this, it will be vital to build on the innovation, expertise and assets which already exists within our communities. We will continue to develop pathways connecting and engaging everyone, particularly those harder to reach. Working collaboratively, through specific actions and through our overall approach to programmes and projects we are committed to ensuring that no one is left behind.
Inclusive growth and anti-poverty
Promoting and embedding inclusive growth
The council is committed to inclusive growth and ensuring the success of the city reaches every citizen. Our aim is to support and connect all residents with economic growth to create vibrant communities where everyone has the opportunity and aspiration to succeed. We recognise that the council must take the lead and demonstrate how we use our range of powers to create an inclusive city. In our role as a civic leader, this includes signing up to the Belfast Business Promise (our inclusive growth city charter) and integrating inclusive growth into the council’s decision-making processes so that we can support social mobility and create more inclusive labour markets and places across the city. We will continue to work with city partners, particularly key anchor institutions, to respond to the imperative to develop a more inclusive economy.
Addressing vulnerabilities and responding to societal challenges
We will continue to work with partners and stakeholders to help address vulnerabilities and key issues that impact on individuals and communities across the city. This will include the continued implementation of Complex Lives which is a whole-system approach focused on people experiencing chronic homelessness. The Complex Lives initiative seeks to improve collaborative working between statutory bodies and voluntary sector organisations, so as to provide the right support to people who need it at the right time and in the right place.
We will also continue to respond to societal pressures such as the cost-of-living crisis to provide much needed support for children and young people, families and individuals across the city. This will include developing targeted and joined up approaches to address food, fuel and transport poverty and their impact on low-income households and adopting a responsive approach to other pressures that may emerge over the next four-year period.
Good relations and shared future
Good Relations Action Plan
Over the past five years, the number of displaced people has increased globally, and whilst not large, the asylum-seeking and refugee population is growing in Northern Ireland, with the majority accommodated in the greater Belfast area. Refugees and asylum-seekers represent some of the most vulnerable people in our society and they often find themselves settling in areas with the highest levels of multiple deprivation, causing further stress to communities that are still recovering from division and conflict.
We will therefore prioritise supporting new communities to ensure that Belfast is a diverse and vibrant city where all people can live in peace, as equals. This work will include the implementation of our Good Relations Action Plan and mainstreaming Good Relations into the council's work, to promote positive cultural change. We will also develop an inclusive Belfast Intervention Plan to address inequalities and support the inclusion and integration of all including ethnic minorities and deliver racial equality, shared education and cultural inclusion programmes and activities.
We will work across government and with communities to deliver programmes such as the Urban Villages initiative which helps transform local places, create thriving spaces and deliver good relations outcomes.
PEACEPLUS
PEACEPLUS is a European Union funding programme designed to support peace and prosperity across Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland, building upon the work of the PEACE and INTERREG programmes.
The Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) has provisionally allocated up to €17,433,277 to us for a Local Community Action Plan to fund community activities and infrastructure projects that help build peace and reconciliation in Belfast. We have worked with communities and partners across the city to further develop the plan for Belfast which will deliver projects on these three themes:
- Local community regeneration and transformation;
- Thriving and peaceful communities;
- Celebrating cultures and diversity.
We will prioritise the implementation of the Local Community Action Plan throughout the next four-year period to deliver real and lasting peace and reconciliation across Belfast.
We have secured significant investment to enhance existing assets across the city including Waterworks Park and Alexandra Park.
We will also look at proposals for intercultural hubs in the city.
Community safety
We will continue to work to ensure that Belfast is a safe city that encourages co-operation with, and inspires confidence in, the justice system and the police. We will continue to engage in our multi-agency Police and Community Safety Partnerships and implement a new Police and Community Safety Action Plan for the city.
Ending Violence against Women and Girls
As a council, Belfast is supporting the NI Executive to roll out their Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy. This is a pressing societal challenge. However we are committed to ensuring that women and girls should feel, and be, safe everywhere.
Work began in early 2025 to deliver training to community and voluntary groups. We plan to provide more training in the future.
Older people
Belfast Age Friendly Plan
We want Belfast to be a great place to grow older. To do this, we need to plan for an increasing ageing population in a way that ensures our older people can continue to live happier, healthier and more connected lives. We will prioritise delivering the 2022-2026 Belfast Age Friendly Plan which sets out a range of important priorities and actions for the council and partner organisations to implement to support the health and wellbeing of our older people.
Our vision for Belfast is a city where older people live life to the full. The Greater Belfast Seniors’ Forum helps us fulfil this vision with their input, support and challenge. The forum comprises six local forums and represents many older people’s groups.
We want to ensure that the needs of older people are considered during service development and to maximise the benefits of older people’s experience.
Belfast is an Age Friendly City. We are currently implementing our third Age Friendly plan which is delivered through the Healthy Ageing Strategic Partnership. The plan contains a range of actions related to priorities identified by older people.
Children and young people
We want all our children and young people to have the best start in life and will work closely with key agencies and partners to ensure that early intervention and early years support is available for all across Belfast.
The council will also work to ensure that we can empower our children and young people to have a say in the decisions that affect their lives to achieve a sustainable, inclusive and child-friendly place to live. We will facilitate an active and engaged Belfast City Youth Council that works with relevant fora and elected members to ensure that the needs of children and young people are reflected within our Belfast Agenda and council priorities.
We will also prioritise the development of a three-year action plan for play development across the city to ensure children and young people have access to high quality play opportunities from an early age.
