Belfast City Council agreed further work plans on the Belfast Region City Deal at its monthly meeting last night, Monday, 2 July.
City Deals are bespoke packages of funding for large projects to boost the economy and create better jobs for more people. They involve funding from Westminster, Department of Finance and Local Authorities. The Belfast Region City Deal offers a once in a generation opportunity for the six local authority areas involved in the Belfast Region City Deal.
The central goal of the Belfast Region City Deal is to deliver more and better jobs; accessible to people from all communities. We’re working in close collaboration with our five local authority partners Antrim and Newtownabbey, Ards and North Down, Lisburn and Castlereagh, Mid and East Antrim and Newry, Mourne and Down, the Northern Ireland Civil Service, Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Treasury to agree our priority projects over the summer months.
And we’ve engaged with politicians, business leaders, universities and colleges to complete a robust analysis of our competitive strengths, economic challenges and our most pressing needs to shape the four pillars of our ambitious proposition: Employability and Skills, Innovation/Digital, Infrastructure and Tourism. We’ll be calling on our wider partners over the coming weeks to show their support for our plans, to ensure that we all secure the strongest possible deal for the Belfast City Region.
Councillor Deirdre Hargey, Belfast Lord Mayor
Belfast City Council is also supportive of a deal for Derry~Londonderry and wants to see money invested in visitor attractions, regeneration, public transport, infrastructure, digital connectivity, research and innovation centres and skills development.