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Good relations
PEACEPLUS is a European Union funding programme designed to support peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland, building on the work of the PEACE and INTERREG programmes.
PEACEPLUS is managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) and represents a funding partnership between the European Union, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Government of Ireland and the Northern Ireland Executive.
The Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) has allocated £15.1 million (€17.4million) to us to deliver the Belfast PEACEPLUS Local Community Action Plan to fund community activities and infrastructure projects that help build peace and reconciliation in Belfast.
A key aspect of the Action Plan is the Community and Regeneration theme which will deliver over £4.6 million of investment across Belfast – focussing on empowering local people to regenerate and transform their communities on a cross-community basis.
Sixteen Belfast projects with the potential to bring communities together will benefit from the PEACEPLUS funding.
There are five capital projects designed to regenerate and transform their local areas. These projects are:
The project will upgrade Mountpottinger Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church, located at the interface between Castlereagh Road and Short Strand, as a hub for a range of community arts services, in partnership with Big Umbrella Drama Company. Investment in this project will regenerate the cultural and arts venue – repurposing the building to improve performance facilities and encourage interaction of all sections of the community. The project will also see the delivery of outreach good relations arts programmes in Belfast schools and a cross-community and multi-cultural volunteering programme.
The project will redevelop an interface site into a new natural play area with pathways, lighting and wall upgrades, as well as a new entrance to the space. The project will provide high quality space for families and animation activities and events will bring the new cross-community space to life.
The project will transform a former bonfire site into a gated play area and training pitch, along with a purpose-built Men’s Shed facility.
The project will extend the Forth Meadow Community Greenway walking and cycling routes at Glencairn and Ligoniel. This project will improve access to the Belfast Hills and connectivity within the hills. A network of over eight kilometres of shared pathways will be developed through the hills, including improved and new pathways, stream crossings and a boardwalk bridge over Forth River.
The project will develop a dedicated facility on the first floor of 2 Royal Avenue in the city centre providing space for organisations representing the LGTQIA+ sector. The hub will have multipurpose spaces, counselling and meeting rooms.
Six projects, aimed at building thriving and peaceful communities, will focus on these themes:
There will be five projects that focus on celebrating cultures and diversity, with initiatives examining culture and heritage, community connections for minority communities, interfaith and belief, community engagement for LGBTQIA+ communities and empowerment for ex-politically motivated prisoners.
All 16 projects will be delivered between September 2024 and 2027.
We worked with communities and partners across the city to develop the Belfast PEACEPLUS Local Community Action Plan for Belfast which will deliver projects with these themes:
The development and submission of the plan was in three stages.
Stage 1 engagement during June to December 2022 involved online and public meetings including:
On completion of Stage 1, a report was published which identified 11 key concept areas to be included in the Local Action Plan.
Since March 2023, we progressed Stage 2 to develop the detail around these concept areas that stakeholders identified in Stage 1. This work involved:
We started Stage 3 of the plan - working with SEUPB to complete the detailed application submission.
We hosted two public information sessions to let stakeholders know what will be included in the local plan submission and how it will be delivered. These sessions were at Girdwood Hub and Riddel Hall in November 2023.
We are hosting two pre-market engagement events for our Multicultural to Interculturalism Project. Organisations or partners interested in delivering PEACEPLUS and individuals representing organisations can register to attend the events. These PEACEPLUS sessions will include:
Our Multicultural to Interculturalism Project will be tendered through four Lots, aligned to these project strands:
The programme will highlight the indigenous linguistic heritage and new languages that are present in Belfast on a cross community basis through Irish Language and Ulster Scots Heritage project and New Languages Programme.
The programme will increase awareness of community capacity within and cross community engagement in the different culturally-significant spaces across Belfast, through intercommunity connected, neighbourhood and citywide venues, leadership, capacity-building and activities programme.
The programme will help flagship events become more accessible. This will include a capacity-building programme, a flagship events cultural connector programme and a marching in step to different tunes and fusion of Belfast Sounds programme.
This programme will develop and enhance public space availability, usage and capacity, including showcasing our historical built environment, walking tours including maritime heritage elements, events in vacant spaces across Belfast, and an intercultural burial traditions graveyard animation programme.
Eligible organisations can bid for all Lots.
The information sessions will take place on Wednesday 26 September in our offices at 9 Adelaide Street:
One person from each organisation can register to attend. The closing date to register is Friday 20 September 2024. To register, email peacepluslap@belfastcity.gov.uk.
We are organising a pre-market engagement event for our PEACEPLUS Employability: Language Up Project. Organisations or partners interested in delivering PEACEPLUS and individuals representing organisations can register to attend the event. The PEACEPLUS event will include:
The event will take place on Thursday 3 October from 10am to 12 noon in our offices at 9 Adelaide Street. One person from each organisation can register to attend. The closing date to register is Monday 30 September 2024.
To register, email peacepluslap@belfastcity.gov.uk. We'll provide more event details to people who register to attend.
We organised a pre-market engagement event for our PEACEPLUS Community Empowerment Project. The PEACEPLUS event included:
The event took place on Friday 13 September in Markets Community Centre.
We organised a pre-market engagement event for our PEACEPLUS Youth Empowerment Project on Thursday 22 August 2024.
The PEACEPLUS event included information on:
We held an online information session on future procurement for our PEACEPLUS Local Community Action Plan. Organisations or partners interested in delivering PEACEPLUS and individuals representing organisations registered to attend the online session.
The session helped potential bidders understand a contractor's responsibilities in delivering PEACEPLUS and covered:
We held information sessions in May 2024 to help the community and voluntary sector understand public sector procurement and prepare for tendering. The sessions looked at:
We held a networking event in City Hall on Tuesday 11 June at 10am. The event provided an overview of the PEACEPLUS Local Community Action Plan. Networking focused on the 11 concepts in ‘Thriving and Peaceful Communities’, ‘Celebrating Cultures’ and ‘Diversity’ themes of the plan.
If you’d like to receive PEACEPLUS local community action plan email updates, contact us: peacepluslap@belfastcity.gov.uk.
For more information on PEACEPLUS, go to PEACEPLUS (link opens in new window).
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