Council Facilitates Launch of Seymour Hill & Conway Estates Community Audit and Development Strategy
July 2, 2015
Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council was delighted to facilitate the launch of the Seymour Hill Community Audit and Development Strategy at Kilmakee Activity Centre recently in partnership with statutory agencies and the local community. The development of the strategy was led by Seymour Hill Residents Group and the Dales Community Association.
There has been a strong partnership between the Council, the statutory agencies and the local Seymour Hill and Conway communities to develop this 10-year strategy, which addresses key issues identified through community consultations.
A Steering Group was established in April 2013 following the closure of Dunmurry High School in 2012 to develop a community development strategy for the area and to identify the best use of the school site. The Group is comprised of local community representatives, local politicians including Jonathan Craig MLA and representatives from statutory agencies.
Local residents, local school, church and elected representatives, members of the Steering Group, and Council Officers, SEHSCT, NI Housing Executive and Connswater Homes staff, attended the launch.
Councillor Margaret Tolerton, Chair of the Seymour Hill Conway Community Plan Steering Group welcoming everyone to the launch, said: “I am delighted that so many are here today to hear about the plans for the former Dunmurry High School site and review the proposed housing development plans. The site was acquired by Connswater Homes and it will be building 98 new homes on the site along with a first class play area that will be contributed to by Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council and the developer.
“As a councillor for the area I would like to commend the level of engagement within the community to contribute to the Audit and identify the key issues of concern within the area. The community leaders within the area have worked exceptionally hard alongside all the Steering Group partners to discuss how the area should be developed. There is a very strong need for more housing within the area as there was no housing scope to allow families to live nearby as children grew up and a lack of suitable housing for an aging population.”
The Department of Social Development and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive are responsible for the development of these 98 social houses identified as part of the former school site. On the remainder of the site, the Council has identified £500,000, within its Capital Programme, for the provision of a Multi-use Games Area as part of its new Community Development Plan.
Key issues that the audit identified included opportunities for young people, health and wellbeing, community capacity and confidence and low sense of community ownership. Following this research, the key strategic themes of the Strategy are capital development, health and wellbeing, education and employability and community capacity building.
Councillor Tolerton added: “The key strategic themes are of great importance and plans have been identified to progress these through collaborative partnerships to source investment and service provision. A Health and Wellbeing Plan will be developed to improve access to healthcare providers and engage specialist service providers to deliver health-related services in the area; and these will be linked in to the Community Planning opportunities within the area.
“Through a five year Community Capacity Building Programme the entire strategy process will be supported and will drive best practice visits, training programmes and strategic planning sessions with a focus on further partnership working. The formation of the multi-agency Steering Group was the first part in this process. I hope that the entire community will engage with the Steering Group over the duration of the Strategy to ensure the area is developed to meet the needs of the area and for the betterment of all.”
Ian Snowden, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Department for Social Development attended the launch, commended the Steering Group for all its hard work on producing the strategy and getting it to its current stage in just two years. “My department sees many approaches to regeneration, but the one thing which all successful approaches have in common is the involvement of the community in deciding what needs to be done, and in making these changes happen.”
Mr Snowden added that the Steering Group’s success can be seen in the fact that 23% of households have completed the audit, which is well above the 9-12% which is the common response to such activities.
He finished by adding that now the strategy for the area has been completed, the hard work of making sure it was delivered would start.
“The Department is pleased to be able to help start this process by giving over £5million in funding to the new social housing development on the site of the former Dunmurry High School.
“Seymour Hill is an attractive place to live, as is demonstrated by the waiting lists for housing in the area. This is always a positive indication of a good community to live in; I wish the community well in its efforts to make it even better.”
Members of the Seymour Hill Steering Group are pictured at the launch of the Seymour Hill & Conway Estates Community Audit and Development Strategy held at Kilmakee Activity Centre.