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.

It was in this context that the Convention committed itself to engage in the Neighbourhood Renewal planning process. That process commenced on 15 June 2005 when the Convention set priority themes and established Task Groups around them to engage in developing a Neighbourhood Renewal Action Plan for Greater Shankill. A timeline is set out in Appendix 3. The process took over two years and actively involved over three hundred people and sought to engage statutory agencies and Government Departments, along with the community.