Belfast’s Notorious Areas Reveal European New Face
Belfast’s Notorious Areas Reveal European New Face
The Final operational year (Finale Year) of the multi-million pound European Union (EU) programme, Urban II, was launched recently in North Belfast.
Attending the launch for a programme, which by the end of 2008 will have invested almost £12.5 million in North Belfast’s once notorious “interface” areas, was Eddie Mc Veigh, head of the European Commission’s Belfast office.
Such interest, investment and the prospect of massive development of the area’s now defunct prison and northern foreshore sites, means that these inner-city areas can look to a brighter future. The “Finale Year will see a raft of diverse projects uniquely delivered via the mechanism of the North Belfast Partnership (NBP), a body that brings local political, community and public body representatives together.
This grassroots body has successfully delivered Urban II on behalf of Northern Ireland’s Department for Social Development (DSD) and the European Commission, building up administrative and management capacity at the coalface.
Highlighting the optimism and confidence generated by Urban II was the North Belfast Quality Support Programme (NBQSP), which held a showcase event in conjunction with the Urban II Finale Year launch. This project has provided management and quality assurance training to community organisations and social enterprises from all of North Belfast’s communities.
The first half of this year will see a raft of projects come-on-stream including the opening of a mini-park on the North Belfast peace-line where local wall-mural painters propose painting the Urban II logo and slogan on the park’s surrounding walls. A glamorous celebrity will open a state-of the art youth centre and the sod for a £1.7 million multi-purpose social and small business facility will soon be cut. Affordable community child-care and transport schemes, among the best in Britain and Ireland, have already been set up with Urban II support.
According to Urban II’s Communications Officer: “Firm foundations for sustainable economic and social development have been laid. People from both communities have worked and trained together and become aware that prosperity and progress is linked to initiative, cooperation and sharing. They have also been made aware of broader European and global realities.”
North Belfast, which was once the cockpit of Northern Ireland’s conflict is now a prime example of what European support combined with local delivery capacity and community initiative can achieve. Part of North Belfast’s fresher face are migrants from far-flung parts of Europe who will no doubt be influenced and perhaps inspired by an area that, despite its still serious issues, has un-expectantly become a European role model in terms of moving on from conflict and confronting dereliction and deprivation, in order to kick-start regeneration.
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