4 January 2007
FUNDING BOOST FOR CLOONA OASIS CENTRE IN POLEGLASS
A project to develop retail and office units at the Cloona Oasis Centre in Poleglass is set to receive nearly £360,000 from the Department for Social Development (DSD).
The £357,985 funding has been provided by the Department's Belfast Regeneration Office (BRO), through the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy. It will be used to develop 1.25 acres of land around Cloona House to provide six social workspace units for retail and office use by the local community.
The Cloona Oasis Centre already delivers a variety of activities and services from Cloona House including local community businesses, training, parenting skills, NVQ accreditation, counselling advice, and programmes for senior citizens and disabled people.
The new units will be available and affordable for local community groups and commercial organisations, helping to create a hub of community activity and enterprise in an area faced by social and economic disadvantage.
Announcing the funding, Social Development Minister David Hanson MP said: "The Cloona Oasis Centre already provides vital and varied professional services within the Colin Neighbourhood Renewal area. The new social workspace units to be built in the grounds of Cloona House will strengthen the services available to the local community and accommodate the needs of local commercial enterprise.
"This project meets the objectives of the Government's Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy: to give people in disadvantaged areas the infrastructure, skills and support that will enable them to improve their quality of life and prospects for the future."
The International Fund for Ireland is also contributing £225,000 to the project and Lisburn City Council is providing £115,015.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- Cloona Oasis Centre operates from Cloona House in Poleglass. Originally set in three acres of grounds and mature gardens, the property is owned by the Parish of the Nativity in the Diocese of Down and Connor, having been purchased from the Ministry of Defence in 1980. A group of local initiatives approached the parish proposing the establishment of a local Trust which would lease Cloona House from the church.
- Although Cloona House is situated in Poleglass in Lisburn City, the building is in the West Belfast Parliamentary Constituency. The house is close to the boundary with Belfast City. The surrounding area is known as the Colin Neighbourhood with some 22,000 people in an extensive urban district comprising four distinct areas: Twinbrook, Poleglass, Lagmore and Kilwee.
- The Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy 'People and Place' was published in June 2003 to close the gap between the quality of life for people in the most deprived neighbourhoods and the rest of society.
- The Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy has four interlinking strategic objectives:
- Community Renewal - to develop confident communities that are able and committed to improving the quality of life in their areas.
- Economic Renewal - to develop economic activity in the most deprived neighbourhoods and connect them to the wider urban economy.
- Social Renewal - to improve social conditions for the people who live in the most deprived neighbourhoods through better co-ordinated public services and the creation of safer environments.
- Physical Renewal - to help create attractive, safe and sustainable environments in the most deprived neighbourhoods.
- For media enquiries contact DSD Information Office on 028 9082 9078.
Click here to print this press release.
