Objective 2: Our communities
Achievement of improvement objective
Improvement objective 2
Our communities: Improve our local areas and enhance how we engage and support residents so everyone can enjoy good quality of life.
Self-assessment
Achieved – we improved our local areas and enhanced how we engage and support residents so everyone can enjoy good quality of life.
Aspect of improvement
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Achieved |
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Achieved |
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Achieved |
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Achieved |
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Achieved |
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Achieved |
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Achieved |
General duty/ continuous improvement
Strategic effectiveness
Service quality and availability
Fairness
Sustainability
Efficiency
InnovationPerformance improvement summary
19 Milestones
- 19 (100 per cent) milestones were achieved.
6 Performance Indicators (target)
- 6 (100 per cent) were on target or exceeded target (within 1 per cent or better).
6 Performance Indicators (trend)
- 5 (83 per cent) performance indicators showed positive change.
- 1 (17 per cent) performance indicators showed no significant change or maintained a similar level of performance as per previous years.
Achievement of improvement objective 2 milestones
1. Supported our residents, especially those most vulnerable, through the cost-of-living crisis
- Achieved - Established an Elected Members’ Cost of Living Working Group to help co-design an effective hardship programme and associated recommendations for implementation. Council agreed over £1m funding framework for 2023-24, which supported the delivery of 12 programmes of work focussed on enhancing the capacity of existing organisations to provide targeted support, to address food and fuel poverty and their impact on low-income households. Beneficiaries to date included:
- 121 schools (68 per cent of those in the city) have taken part and provided support to children and young people;
- 23-day care providers have provided warm, nutritious, and substantial meals to early years children;
- Delivered programmes for children and young people, older people, and families in 26 council community centres and 7 Independently managed community centres;
- 2,161 people accessed warm and welcome spaces across 17 community centres through a range of projects such as tea dances for older people and lunch and brunch clubs for children and families; and
- Allocated almost £570,000 to support 21 social supermarkets which provided food and wraparound support for those in need within our communities. Received 28 applications totalling approximately £946,620 through an open call Social Supermarket Fund programme. Outcome of assessments to be reported to committee for funding decisions in April 24.
- Achieved - Developed and distributed 14,500 copies of the cost-of-living support guide to help people navigate services available across the city, to help with the high cost-of-living. A total of 13,792 people accessed the online cost-of-living support and advice (including information about social supermarkets).
- Achieved - Convened regular meetings with Belfast Advice Group to develop an action plan to implement recommendations from the advice review.
- Achieved - Completed a review of council and DfC funded advice services including consultation with the Advice Sector and central government departments.
- Achieved - Supported 722 referrals to the Belfast warm and well programme to support vulnerable people in cold homes during winter across all areas in Belfast and delivered training, awareness, and advice to 1,221 participants over 28 sessions. Provided energy advice to 315 households with complex energy needs throughout the year. Delivered capacity building programmes to raise awareness of the risks of winter and cold weather to vulnerable people such as hard to reach males, older people, parent, and children and Roma/ BME youth.
2. Improved our neighbourhoods through the Neighbourhood Regeneration Fund
- Achieved - Worked with 24 stage two Neighbourhood Regeneration Fund (NRF) projects to help develop their business cases.
- Achieved - Worked with 16 stage three projects to identify next steps for each scheme. Presented recommendations of the Area Working Group to Committee in December 2023. Issued the first formal funding offer under NRF and successfully commenced the scheme.
3. Improved our parks and playgrounds and encouraged people to be physically active
- Achieved - Completed and opened Marrowbone Millennium Park and the pitch has been signed off by the Irish FA as ‘Intermediate Level’ status. Completed dual language signage.
- Achieved - Initiated capital project to improve Pitt Park.
- Achieved - Completed the Paisley Park Sportsplex project, including a 3G pitch and changing facilities.
- Achieved - Initiated major improvement works to Ballysillan Playing Fields in collaboration with partners which is well underway.
- Achieved - Delivered the Playground Improvement Programme, including:
- Refurbished Loughside Park Playground
- Commenced construction in North Link Playground.
- Procured and ordered playground equipment for New Lodge Playground.
- Achieved - Submitted annual applications to retain 20 Green flags in relevant parks and open spaces.
- Achieved - Commenced public consultation on the draft Physical Activity and Sports Strategy and facilitated a follow up stakeholder workshop.
4. Enhanced and improved how we engage and involve
- Achieved - Supported the Active Belfast participatory budgeting (PB) pilot and improved how we engage with newer communities and other seldom heard groups within Belfast:
- Delivered the ‘Move More and Eat Well to Feel Better’ PB pilot which offered local groups the opportunity to apply for up to £1,000 to fund relevant projects. Held four voting and decision-making events and a total of 2,497 voters cast 11,715 valid votes. Approved 27 projects to be delivered. A third (33 per cent) of all applicants were from un-constituted groups, and 30 per cent of the successful projects were also un-constituted meaning the PB reached new people, communities, and groups.
- Secured agreement for a phase 2 – Move More and Eat Well PB process. Improved uptake by increasing the maximum funding for groups to £2,500. Received 94 applications and a total of 7,064 recorded votes. Almost twice as many groups were funded (51 projects across the four areas of Belfast) with overall PB funding increasing to £121,258.
- For more information, including project evaluation and videos, please see Making Life Better Together (link opens in new window)
- Achieved - Ensured widest participation and good practice and improved how we engage with newer communities and other seldom heard groups within Belfast:
- Widened engagement and participation through the PB process. Attendance at the PB events was diverse and representation from migrant and ethnic minority communities was very high. The family-friendly and fun nature of the market stall events enabled community bonding and provided a unique opportunity to make new introductions or strengthen networking.
- Enabled younger people to have a voice as part of the PB process, via in-person events. 43 per cent of those submitting a ballot paper were aged 24 and under, with a third (34 per cent) aged 4 – 13 years of age.
- Invited representative organisations to join the second Move More Eat Well PB design team, given the under-representation of women and girls and people with disabilities within sport, to help with outreach and ensure full inclusivity.
- Established our third PB initiative – Bank of Ideas - focusing on creativity as part of the Belfast 2024 celebrations. A new design team was set-up, including representatives from various arts and creative organisations.
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Achieved - Provided training and developed guidance notes for staff to ensure widest participation and good practice.
- Provided training and advice as required to services across council and supported the development of a range of public consultations.
- Shared good practice advice regarding the use of translation options as part of engagements and as a result several key consultations, including our PB initiatives, have included summaries in other key languages or included easy-read versions of strategies.
- Finalised an extensive ongoing programme of engagement to review and update the community plan.
- Gathered ideas from children and their parents or guardians and local community groups as part of the public consultation on the naming of a new parks and agreed three suggested names that reflected the site and its historical background, for public vote.
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Achieved - Explored options for enhancing engagement with the Youth Council and
- Achieved - Supported the Belfast Youth Council to identify key priorities and actions for taking forward in 2023-24.
- Conducted a recruitment exercise for the new Youth Council between October and December 2023, recruiting 25 young people.
- Shared opportunities for youth participation in the PB pilot and community planning co-design process with our youth network.
- Held Introductory event in City Hall with the Lord Mayor, Chief Executive, all party Youth Champions and new members of Belfast City Youth council and their parents or guardians. The event recognised the voluntary contribution of the youth champions and the commitment of council to enabling young people to have a voice in determining city priorities.
- New cohort has focused on induction, capacity building, team building and identifying priorities for 2024-25. The Youth Council has also developed a partnership with Queens’ University Belfast (QUB) to become involved in the Radical Project which will enhance youth participation in policy development.
Improvement objective 2 indicators and performance measures
|
Performance Indicators |
2020-21 |
2021-22 |
2022-23 |
2023-24 Target |
2023-24 Actual |
Trend |
Commentary if target not met |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Number of parks and green spaces with Green flag accreditation |
20 |
20 |
20 |
20 |
20 On target or exceeded target (within 1% or better) |
No significant change |
Not applicable |
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Number of responses to consultation surveys per annum (via Your Say Belfast) |
- |
6,797 |
8, 846 |
Not applicable |
10,994 On target or exceeded target (within 1% or better) |
Positive change |
Not applicable |
|
Public participation levels in participatory budgeting (PB) decision making events |
- |
- |
- |
150 |
9,559 On target or exceeded target (within 1% or better) |
Positive change |
The initial target was based on the pilot in-person events. As this was our first PB process the response far exceeded our expectations. |
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Total BCC capital investment in neighbourhoods |
£10.2m |
£28.1m |
£16.3m |
£21.5m |
£30.1m On target or exceeded target (within 1% or better) |
Positive change |
Not applicable |
|
Investment in new and upgraded playgrounds |
- |
- |
- |
£580k |
£580K On target or exceeded target (within 1% or better) |
Positive change |
Not applicable |
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Number of residents accessing online cost-of-living support and advice or ‘warm and welcome spaces’ |
- |
- |
- |
Not applicable |
Online cost-of-living support and advice – 13,792 Warm and welcome spaces - 2,161 Total 15,942 On target or exceeded target (within 1% or better) |
Positive change |
Not applicable |
Additional evidence of performance improvement aligned to objective 2
Evidence to demonstrate we improved our local areas and enhanced how we engaged and supported residents so everyone could enjoy a good quality of life.
Our community plan (the Belfast Agenda) sets out long-term outcomes and ambitions for improving the long-term social, economic, and environmental wellbeing of Belfast as well as immediate priorities. Progress against the Belfast Agenda is monitored and reported through regular reports to Community Planning Partnership Boards and the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee (SP&R). Council publishes a report every two years, assessing progress towards achieving outcomes and demonstrating the impact on the outcomes for citizens. Progress reports can be accessed online (link opens in new window). In doing so, we provided evidence of meeting the general duty to secure continuous improvement in the exercise of our functions and addressing multiple complex community needs. Our role in leading the community planning process in Belfast has been pivotal in demonstrating improvement by contributing working collaboratively with cross-sector partners to understand and improve the sustainability of our areas [Footnote 4].
In addition to specific consultation exercises on our dedicated engagement platform Your Say Belfast, we host a number of open engagement spaces on a range of specific issues (resilience and sustainability, for example). We also engaged extensively through our ongoing engagement mechanisms, such as:
- the Equality Consultative Forum.
- staff groups.
- Trade Unions.
- feedback from social media.
- our complaints, comments, and compliments process.
- established forums such as the Migrant Forum and Older Peoples’ Forum.
Next Steps
As a result of extensive consultation and engagement ‘Our people and communities’ is a strategic theme included within the refreshed Belfast Agenda and a key priority in the 2024 – 28 Corporate Plan (currently in draft).
This improvement objective features in the Performance Improvement Plan 2024-25 as two objectives:
- We will improve our local areas and provide opportunities to support our residents to become healthier and engaged.
- We will support our residents through the cost-of-living crisis.
The council has put cost-of-living support at the heart of its strategic commitments to tackle inequality and poverty. This has emerged as an improvement objective to help mitigate the impact of the current, and sustained, pressures being faced by the families, business, and communities they serve. The role of our community planning partners is also pivotal, we will work closely with cross-sector partners to understand and develop place-based plans to tackle inequalities across the city.
Footnotes
[Footnote 4] Section 16 Circular LG 26/15 - Guidance for local government performance improvement (link opens in new window)
