Download: Greater Shankill NRA Action Plan 2017-18
In June 2003, Government launched Neighbourhood Renewal – People and Place. Neighbourhoods in the most deprived 10% of wards across Northern Ireland were identified using the Noble Multiple Deprivation Measure. Following extensive consultation, this resulted in a total of 36 Areas, and a population of approximately 280,000 (one person in 6 in Northern Ireland), being targeted for intervention and the Greater Shankill Neighbourhood Renewal Area was declared in 2007. This is the fourth published iteration Greater Shankill’s Neighbourhood Action Plan (NAP).
Each NAP takes its authority from the Greater Shankill Community Convention and is then adopted by the area’s Neighbourhood Partnership. In 2010/11 two Conventions met to establish an ‘Agreed Agenda’ for Greater Shankill and this NAP has been formatted around that Agenda, prioritising Children & Young People; Employability & Employment; Physical Regeneration & Quality of Life issues. The 2016/17 NAP sets out current and comparative data, outcomes, outputs, actions and those with ‘lead’ involvement for taking forward these priorities in the incoming year.
The Greater Shankill environment continues to show positive ‘shoots of renewal’. Our young population continues to show consistent growth; the Children & Young People Zone holds out the possibility of generational transformation and there is new energy around health issues, creativity and the arts. However, there are real uncertainties going forward. The present political impasse, lack of a PfG and budget presents real challenges across the very areas addressed by Neighbourhood Renewal – health, education, the economy and, at another level, funding for groups working to increase the quality of life for people in disadvantaged areas.
This Neighbourhood Action Plan was adopted by the Greater Shankill Community Convention on 7th March 2017.