Minister launches plans to regenerate communities

The Housing Led Regeneration Programme, which is part of the Minister’s recently announced ‘Facing the Future - Housing Strategy for Northern Ireland’, aims to use housing intervention as the main catalyst for local regeneration. This initiative will complement other departmental programmes already underway.

Speaking during his visits to Doury Road, one of the first areas selected as meeting the qualifying criteria for the Programme, the Minister said: “It is a great regret to me that many once vibrant areas across Northern Ireland have been condemned to dereliction, allowed to decline and become blighted by vacant and derelict properties, undeveloped land and poor infrastructure. The approach up to now has failed and is failing many communities and I am determined to put things right.

“My vision is to take a more strategic approach to housing in Northern Ireland. Housing led regeneration is good practice elsewhere and it is one of the key areas in which I think we can make a real difference to the lives of some of our most disadvantaged communities.

“I visited the northwest of England earlier this year to see a number of housing led regeneration schemes which have turned around areas which were in decline. I know this approach can work and I am keen to test that approach here with the aim of providing better homes, better places to live, better places to work and better opportunities for everyone.

“The work will involve concerted social, economic and physical actions by my Department’s Housing and Urban Regeneration teams together with support from the Social Security Agency. My Department will work in partnership with the Housing Executive, Housing Associations, local communities and key statutory and voluntary agencies to develop solutions that will reverse decline and create more sustainable communities.”

Work is ongoing to select those areas which meet the criteria set out in the Housing Strategy. Four areas will then be selected for piloting of the initiative. To date four areas have been selected as meeting the initial selection criteria. These are at Belfast’s Lower Oldpark/Hillview, Tiger’s Bay/Mountcollyer and Divis/Albert Street and Doury Road in Ballymena.

Local consultation will be a key a part of the process and plans for each location will be subject to a business case approval to demonstrate that the proposals deliver the necessary value for money. Likely initiatives could include refurbishment of existing housing and new build provision, infrastructure improvements and programmes to tackle anti-social behaviour and improve educational attainment and employability prospects for people living within the test areas.

The Minister concluded: “Following some initial discussions with the communities I have met today and others, I hope to announce a pilot programme in late September. Housing Led Regeneration Forums will then be set up to take this initiative forward and once all the necessary approvals have been secured we will start to see work take place on the ground. On review, we will then consider the potential for using this approach in other areas across Northern Ireland.”