Social Development Minister David Hanson has today announced the future working arrangements for the North Belfast Community Action Unit.

The unit, which has responsibility for building community capacity among local people in North Belfast as well as taking forward the redevelopment of the former Crumlin Road Jail and Girdwood Barracks site, was the subject of a recent independent evaluation carried out by Dick Mackenzie, a former Deputy Secretary in the Department of the Environment. Following a period of consultation the Minister has decided that:

• Funding for the community capacity building programme up to March 2009 be considered as part of Government’s current Comprehensive Spending Review. However, in recognition of the need to complement the wider regeneration agenda it is envisaged that, over time, the work of the Community Empowerment Partnerships (CEPs) will be integrated into the work of the Department for Social Development’s (DSD) Urban Regeneration and Community Development Group
• The capacity building work of the unit will be amalgamated with the Belfast Regeneration Office over a period of 18 months to allow the less well-developed CEPs to mature. This will also allow the newly-framed capacity building programme to bed in properly, thereby enabling a closer alignment with the wider regeneration agenda
• The regeneration of the Crumlin Road Jail/Girdwood site will continue to be taken forward by a dedicated North Belfast Unit which will in time also have responsibility for taking forward the Crumlin Road and Lower Shankill master planning exercises, thereby allowing for a more integrated approach to the development in the area. Given this enhanced remit the unit will be located in DSD and will continue to be managed at senior official level.

The Minister said: “I believe that, by taking these decisions I have created the conditions on which to take forward the valuable work currently carried out by the unit in North Belfast, thereby building on the recommendations of the Dunlop Team in 2002. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who shared their views during the consultation period.”

The North Belfast Community Action Unit was established in August 2002 following an independent report on social, economic and community problems in North Belfast.

The unit was originally set up and funded until March 2006 to build community capacity to empower local people to address their needs and to improve community relations; build partnerships within and between North Belfast communities and statutory agencies; address issues at interface areas; develop a strategy for an integrated Government response to the problems of North Belfast; and re-develop the Crumlin Road Gaol and lately the Girdwood site.

(EF)