Spellar Launches Plan To Tackle Deprivation In Towns And Cities

13 January 2004
SPELLAR LAUNCHES PLAN TO TACKLE DEPRIVATION IN TOWNS AND CITIES
A plan to tackle deprivation in 15 neighbourhood areas outside Belfast and Londonderry was launched today in Ballymena by John Spellar MP, Minister with responsibility for Social Development.

During a visit to the Ballykeel area of the town, the Minister published a draft implementation plan that sets out the Department for Social Development’s proposals for implementing the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy in towns and cities outside of Belfast and Londonderry.

Launching the draft plan the Minister said: "It is unacceptable that one in seven people live in deprived conditions in our towns and cities. However, urban deprivation is not unique to Belfast and Londonderry. Other towns and cities face the same problems of poverty, unemployment, poor health and lower levels of educational attainment.

"Any strategy aimed at dealing with these problems and breaking the cycle of deprivation must pay as much attention to towns such as Ballymena as it does to larger cities. Our plan identifies 15 Neighbourhood Renewal Areas - in Armagh, Ballyclare, Ballymena, Bangor, Craigavon, two in Coleraine, Downpatrick, Dungannon, Limavady, Lurgan, Newry, Omagh, Portadown and Strabane.

"I believe that Neighbourhood Renewal will help to transform our most deprived urban areas and provide genuine opportunities for local children to fulfil their true potential, for their parents to have a chance to share in the prosperity most of us take for granted and for the elderly to enjoy their retirement in comfort and in an absence of fear."

The draft Implementation Plan includes detailed proposals on how the neighbourhoods will be chosen, how and by whom the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy will be implemented and what kind of schemes might be supported. The Minister said consultation was an important part of developing any policy or strategy and therefore his Department wanted to know what people think of the proposals and whether the plans could be improved before they are finally published in June. The public has until the end of March this year to make comments.

The draft plan for regional towns and cities is one of three implementation plans being developed following the publication of the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy last June. A draft implementation plan for Londonderry was published late last year and a draft plan for Belfast will be published shortly.
NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. People and Place, the Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal, was published by the Department for Social Development in June 2003. The goal of the strategy is to close the gap between the quality of life for those living in deprived neighbourhoods and the quality of life enjoyed by the rest of society.

2. The key elements of Neighbourhood Renewal are:

targeting support at the most acutely deprived areas;

taking a long-term approach to tackling the needs of those areas;

working in a more integrated and better co-ordinated way across government;

addressing community division and tension;

working in partnership with local communities and the private sector; and

making a visible difference to the problems of the most deprived neighbourhoods.

3. The Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal sets out the principles that will guide the Department for Social Development’s approach to tackling deprivation over the next 10 years. More detail on how it will be implemented will be provided by three Implementation Plans covering Belfast, Londonderry and the regional towns. There will be consultation in all three areas before the final implementation Plans are published.

4. The consultation on the draft Implementation Plan for Neighbourhood Renewal in the regional towns will run until 26 March 2004. The Department will simultaneously consult on an Equality Impact Assessment of its proposals. As well as publishing the draft document, the Department will be holding a series of consultation workshops in towns across Northern Ireland.

5. Both the draft Implementation Plan and the Equality Impact Assessment can be obtained by contacting the Regional Development Office at Room 505, Londonderry House, 21-27 Chichester Street, Belfast, BT1 4JD (tel: 9025 2703) or from the DSD website at www.dsdni.gov.uk

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