Summary of Stage One of the Community Engagement Strand of the Andersonstown Gateway Project

Introduction

Deloitte MCS Limited was commissioned by the Department for Social Development to support the community engagement strand of the Andersonstown Gateway Project. The work is being undertaken in tandem with the Gateway Feasibility Study which is being taken forward by the West Belfast and Greater Shankill Enterprise Council.

The key community engagement elements to date have included face to face engagement, development of a website and dedicated email and phone line.

Face to Face Community Engagement

The main aims of the face to face engagement were to inform the residents in the vicinity of the former Andersonstown barracks site of the planned feasibility study, advise residents how to stay updated in the process and tell them of the opportunities they have to comment including public sessions. It was also an opportunity for residents to provide comments if they wished. A leaflet was produced and given to each household. The facilitator talked through the leaflet with the household representative and asked four questions. The questions asked were:

• Do you feel better informed about the feasibility study?
• Do you know how to stay updated in the process and what opportunities you have to make comment?
• Do you understand how you find out about and take part in the public session? and
• Have you anything else you would like to say?

Attempts were made to engage with 425 households and businesses. The facilitators successfully engaged with 318 households and 31 businesses. A total of 75 households and one business were not accessed or did not participate. Out of the 76 unsuccessful attempts six households answered the door but were unwilling to participate, ten were empty (including some buildings for sale) and for the remaining at least three attempts were made.

In response to the final question, "have you anything else you would like to say?" some 124 people made comments. The remainder of those engaged (225) choose not to make a comment. The comments have been broadly categorised as follows:

• comments on leaflet and face to face engagement (n=17);
• comments relating to the overall process (n= 16);
• comments on future engagement channels (n= 12);
• comments on how the barrack site should be used (n=78); and
• other comments (n=2).

The comments on the leaflet and face to face engagement generally expressed thanks and confirmed that the process had been informative. The comments on the overall process challenged the current community engagement process and included calls for greater community consultation. The greatest number of comments (n=78) related to how the former Andersonstown Barrack's site should be used. This highlighted a diverse range of views on what the community wanted and did not want. The options commented upon included housing, shops, take-aways, pubs, youth facilities, garden / memorial garden, hostel. Several of these options were in both the 'use the site for' and 'don't use the site for' comments.

Overall on the face-to-face consultation the following is noted:

• the number of comments expressing thanks and saying the process was informative was equivalent to the number of comments challenging the process;
• based on the comments received as to how the barracks site should be used there is not a clear consensus within the local community as to its preferred use; and
• the significant majority of those engaged did not offer any comments.

Website and Email Engagement

The Andersonstown Gateway web site (www.andersonstowngateway.com) went live on Thursday 26th June in line with public advertisement and commencement of face-to-face engagement. The website included an option to submit email comments.

Seventy-nine emails were received through the website. They are almost entirely from individuals. One is from a local residents association. The main content of the emails relate to the process for deciding what the former Andersonstown Barracks site should be used for alongside some comment on what it should be used for. Only two email comments were received during July. The number of comments grew slowly until Friday 8th August, by which time 15 comments had been received. Between Saturday 9th August and Thursday 14th August a further 52 emails were received. Another 12 were received by the end of August. The large majority of these emails (54 out of 79) read as follows:

"I am unhappy that I have not been consulted on the future of the former Andersonstown barracks site. The site should be gift-aided to the local community for public use."

The pattern of email delivery, concentrated over five days in August, and consistency of the wording indicate the email comments have been organised to some degree.

Dedicated Telephone Line

The dedicated telephone messaging service went live on Wednesday 25th June in advance of public advertisement and face-to-face engagement. Two comments have been received. The comments relate to the process being used for deciding how to use the Andersonstown Barracks site.