1. Introduction
Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 places a duty on all public authorities to have due regard when carrying out its businessFootnote One to the need to promote equality of opportunity:
- between persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status or sexual orientation
- between men and women generally
- between persons with a disability and persons without
- between persons with dependants and persons without.
Section 75 also places a duty on all public authorities to have regard to the desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion and racial group.
About Belfast Stories
In December 2021, Belfast City Council announced its plans for a new visitor attraction in Belfast city centre.
Funded by the Belfast Region City Deal and Belfast City Council, Belfast Stories will open at the former Bank of Ireland buildings, 92 Royal Avenue (where North Street and Royal Avenue meet) by 2030. Inside, there will be stories told by people who have lived in or visited Belfast.
It is being developed in line with the planning stages recommended by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). There are eight RIBA stages.
The first public consultation was carried out over 14 weeks from 10 August to 20 November 2022 as part of RIBA 1. It gathered ideas and evidence to help shape the design brief.
Belfast Stories is currently at RIBA stage 2. Designers have been appointed and Initial architectural and curatorial concepts have been developed, which will now be presented and reviewed during this second public consultation.
Findings from the second public consultation will be reviewed and used to inform more detailed plans, which will be presented and reviewed during a third public consultation as part of the process for securing planning permission.
There will also be ongoing engagement with different people and organisations to help continue to shape Belfast Stories right up until it opens.
Purpose of this Equality Impact Assessment
Belfast City Council recognises Belfast Stories as a major development which will impact on staff, residents and other ratepayers. As a result, it could also impact on people and groups associated with the nine Section 75 equality categories.
An initial equality screening was carried out in December 2021. It recommended that an equality impact assessment (EQIA) be carried out on Belfast Stories, potentially at different stages in the project.
An initial EQIA was carried out and consulted on between August and November 2022. It recommended that further equality screening be carried out at key milestones on the development process including concept design and planning permission.
This draft EQIA sets out the current position in terms of the actual and potential equality impacts of Belfast Stories at architectural and curatorial concept stage. It is currently open for consultation with feedback being sought from Belfast City Council’s Equality Scheme consultees (see appendix 1), other interested stakeholders and the general public.
More information on how you can take part in the public consultation is included in section 8 of this report.
Footnotes
Footnote 1: Such as developing and delivering strategies, plans, policies, projects, programmes, funding, services and facilities
