Neighbourhood Renewal and Regeneration

In 2004, DSD commenced consultation on the Government’s proposed Neighbourhood Renewal policy, the Community Convention, a body established in 2002 to bring all aspects of the Greater Shankill together, met in full session to consider its response. It welcomed the Government’s stated long-term commitment to the renewal process and its intention to heed the voice of the community in designing its future and setting its priorities.

However, from a community perspective, the Convention expressed grave reservations about the capacity of Departments to respond positively and to effectively engage in joined-up working. It also was exasperated that the Greater Shankill had been at this point before as a community, largely without being listened to.

Strategic Regeneration Framework

Successive attempts have been made to regenerate areas of the Greater Shankill. Despite some notable successes and the presence of community initiatives that are well established and respected, none has succeeded in transforming the area.

It is now recognised that a comprehensive and strategically based approach to the entire area is urgently needed and that piecemeal regeneration efforts are unable to produce lasting outcomes.

Despite numerous plans and proposals for different elements of the Greater Shankill there has not been a comprehensive vision for the whole area since 1969. Almost 40 years on, this Strategic Regeneration Framework provides the opportunity to:

a) fully assess the nature and extent of issues currently facing the Greater Shankill, and;

b) establish a set of strategically founded priorities by which to drive the reversal of its decline.

Click above to view the SRF

Greenway Concept Plan

“Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will themselves not be realised.  Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble logical diagram (plan) once recorded will not die”.

 - Daniel Burnham, American Architect and Planner, 1846-1912

The Greater Shankill Greenway is a ‘big plan’ that ‘aims high’ both literally and figuratively but also has deep roots in the community.

Click above to view the Concept Plan Document

In the Greater Shankill Neighbourhood Action Plan, the theme of Arterial routes and Environment has six specific actions to deliver physical & economic renewal to the Greater Shankill.

One of these actions was the requirement off a Regeneration Framework for the Greater Shankill (SRF).  This plan was delivered at the request of DSD, in November 2008, by The Paul Hogarth Company.  One of the six strategic components within the SRF was a ‘Community Greenway’.  The Greenway highlights potential for the Greater Shankill to capitalise on its natural landscape and provide a citywide connection between Belfast and its hills, whilst greatly benefiting the Greater Shankill area.

Spectrum Centre

The Spectrum Centre is a major landmark in the Greater Shankill area.  It has developed as an Arts and Culture venue which lies in the heart of the community.

Special interest groups are encouraged to use the facilities for community purposes.

Integrated Services for Children & Young People (ISCYP)

It's not only in school that children learn, in fact, the family has a bigger influence in a child's life, as do their friends and the community as they get older – for good or ill.

The Greater Shankill Partnership's Integrated Services for Children & Young People Programme (ISCYP) seeks to improve the life chances of children and young people throughout the area.

It is in the family that a child learns the most and because of that, ISCYP has a particular focus on providing support for families.  The ISCYP Programme seeks to ensure that all those working with children and their families, from schools, to social services, to youth workers, community groups, etc, do so in an integrated way, working better together.

About Arts & Tourism

SHANKILL 455AD - ORIGINAL BELFAST

Though the cauldron of N.Ireland’s troubles, the Shankill has emerged damaged but intact, a fierce yet friendly, authentic, "no frills attached" working class community; murals are on almost every street corner, telling the story of it’s violent past and the belief in a positive future.

This is real Belfast!

Climbing one mile out of the city centre into the lower slopes of the Belfast hill, the Shankill is a byword for N. Irelands troubles. For forty years, the Shankill all too frequently hit the headlines as Belfast’s violence intensified. Known as "the heart of the Empire" the Shankill has been a talisman of loyalism. It was the Shankill’s warren of streets running between it and the Caltholic Falls Road, now divided by Belfast’s longest and original Peacewall that the troubles erupted in 1969. Paramilitary organisations the UVF and UDA have headquartered here; the Shankill Butchers gang operated from here; the IRA have frequently bombed here, five of these bombings took lives, the most infamous of which was on 23^rd October 1993 when 9 innocents were murdered and over 50 people injured. These are just some of the hundreds of violent outrages in the area.

Shankill Sure Start

"Providing opportunities for children, their parents and families to develop in a holistic way in the Greater Shankill Area"

Phone: 028 9087 4000

Alessie Centre,
60 Shankill Road,
Belfast

BT13 2BB

The first three years of a child's life are the most important in its development.  During these early years a child's brain grows faster and the child's ability to learn is greater than at any other time in its life.

It is during these early years that attitudes, language skills, our ability to relate to one another and the ways in which we learn, think and behave are all laid down.

About Health & Wellbeing

Shankill is the 6th most deprived super output area (SOA) in the whole of Northern Ireland for multiple deprivation. This is very high when you consider that there are 890 SOAs in Northern Ireland. A SOA is an area which contains a population of 2000 people.

The effects of multiple deprivation have had a very negative impact on the health and wellbeing of those living in the area. This is evidenced through:

• Prevalence of mental health issues
• Low uptake of screening services
• Low breastfeeding rates
• High dependence on prescription and illegal drugs
• Higher hospital admission rates for heart conditions, cancer, respiratory conditions and asthma.

The main development work around health and wellbeing is focussed on keeping health on the local agenda. This involves building and maintaining a process of engagement and enhancing local capacity to identify and respond to need. It also involves making sure that those issues which have been identified are reflected in planning processes at a Strategic level. Much of the work is guided by the local Health and Wellbeing Forum.

Belfast Community Sports Development Network

Belfast Community Sports Development Network (BCSDN) was set up as a Company with Charitable Status in October 2006. The Company currently has 8 Directors representing Community Regeneration Organisations and Community Managed Multi Sports Facilities, and they work primarily within areas of social and economic deprivation across the City.

BCSDN draws on the professional skills of paid and voluntary people working in the field of community sports. This Network enables community sports in Belfast to articulate and endorse astrategic approach to the development of sport and community regeneration. It provides management, support, mentoring and guidance to Development Officers, Clubs and Community Organisations enabling Belfast wide programmes to be implemented, while complimenting local delivery.