Debate contribution: High Street and Town Centre Rejuvenation

Debate contribution by Mr David Honeyford on 4 November 2024.

MLA

Mr David Honeyford

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

4 November 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

High Street and Town Centre Rejuvenation

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4626001

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. Speaking as the Alliance Party spokesperson on the economy, I feel that this is the stuff where business meets community. It shows that there is potential, and it enthuses me that we can actually control change from the Assembly and make a huge difference right across this region. We need to take a little step back and ask ourselves what it is about our town centres that makes them vital to our community, our local economy and our local businesses. What is it about the social fabric of our community that clusters around an urban centre? We can look back on the glory days of the past, but what is important today is that we look to the future and to a world that has changed. Having asked ourselves why our town centres are vital, we can then put in the measures that will help to deliver the future. I want to look at those measures and how we help to grow and sustain our high streets, because we cannot keep doing the same thing over and over again. Philip McGuigan mentioned the places in which we live and work and need to be safe. He also talked about councils' role, as did Connie Egan, who spoke about the issues in Bangor. Thinking of my town, Lisburn, I have watched Bow Street slowly decline over the past 25 years, with bad decisions at political level that have —.

Yes, I agree. I highlight the situation in Downpatrick — I was there last year — that was absolutely devastating for local businesses. In Lisburn, we have seen bad decisions at a political level that failed our high street, but I want to look forward and at solutions to change that. What is the aim, and what should the future look like? Colm Gildernew referenced the change in usage and, moving forward, a new reality. We need to reshape and repurpose our town centres to create vibrant, regenerative, sustainable town centres that are thriving and inclusive, where everyone gets to play and no one is excluded. Within that reshaping, we need to look at good urban design that encourages people to live in our town centres, which can become living spaces where city centre living sits alongside retail and hospitality. Furthermore, we should encourage arts and crafts to have a presence. As well as our high streets having commercial spaces and offices, we can bring them into mixed use and give them a pulse during the day and, importantly, at night. Using rate relief or restructuring our rating system would encourage a reworking and a rethinking of our town centres to make them places of mixed use — places where we shop, live, go out to enjoy hospitality, enjoy the arts and be entertained on the streets or where our home serves as our workplace. We can do that if we tip the tax advantage towards our town centres to encourage growth. Sinéad McLaughlin and Colin McGrath laid out the need for a review of our high streets to recreate them as the heart of our communities. Our high streets really spark discussions and change in here. Gerry Carroll, in a kind of protest, talked about Sundays, and the DUP nodded along. Then, Timothy Gaston was positive about Ballymoney High Street and went on to congratulate People Before Profit. So, with the new fans that Gerry has in the DUP and the TUV, who says that politics cannot change and that we cannot all be friends?

Go for it.

I thank the Member for his intervention and I hope that he enjoys his new friendships.

City centre living must be developed with a mixed tenure apartments on our high streets and in town centres. We need to develop safe cities for all — for young people, professionals and retired people — so that they enjoy living in our town centres. We need to create towns that breathe and develop living cities with more urban space, more trees and more green space in the built-up areas, where the environment is clean and sustainable, where there is good air quality, where there is clean water in the rivers and where there are accessible green spaces. Diane Armstrong and Colin Crawford talked about long-term dereliction and buildings that remain in our town centres, and the need for the Department for the Economy and the Department of Finance to action that. I agree with what has been said, but we also need planning reform, which Phillip Brett referenced. We need planning that balances the protection of heritage alongside the unlocking of today's high street requirements, enabling the future to be realised. Cheryl Brownlee and Phillip Brett both highlighted dereliction and planning. I mentioned the arts in our town centres. We must encourage local artists and musicians to entertain on our streets, but they also need spaces where they can perform and attract audiences, thereby creating more footfall on our high streets. We need to support and grow inclusive annual community festivals that are unique to each town and city throughout the region. We have some great examples of that, such as the West Belfast festival and the Halloween parades in Derry, which other towns and villages can learn from. In Lisburn, however, the arts centre and the theatre are based at the council headquarters, which are outside the city centre. Both are completely disconnected from the city centre. If we continue to separate every function, our high streets will continue to decline. In Lisburn, that needs to change, and both of those facilities should be moved to Bow Street. That will act as a catalyst and encourage others to follow and start the regeneration of the city centre. The principle, and one of the key values that are required for our high streets, is that we support the generation of wealth locally and that it is recirculated so that everyone feels the benefit and no one is excluded. We need to create tailored spaces, including small spaces for independent traders, boutiques and craft makers, which will allow them to open, trade and thrive and will work for and with their business needs. Finally, we must encourage commercial use in our town centres. Belfast has quite a lot of that, but outside Belfast it is not as prominent. We need to ensure that small businesses and social enterprises can have connected and flexible work spaces that incubate and encourage growth, thus forming clusters uniquely in our town centres, supporting wealth generation that is circulated and stays locally. I want to talk about better connections. Gerry Carroll made a really good point about developing a city centre that is easily walked or cycled, with permanent cycle lanes installed on the major routes in and around our towns and cities. We could have better connectivity and cost-effective, reliable and frequent public transport options that allow us to move around and get about. The motion is about how we can create vibrant, regenerated and sustainable town centres that are thriving and inclusive. The day of viewing our high streets as solely economic spaces is over. We need to transform and reimagine our town centres so that they can not only contribute to economic growth but provide opportunities for everyone. Phillip Brett talked about the need for the Department for the Economy to take the lead on the issue, and I completely agree. Junior Minister Reilly laid out the Executive Office's view, but the high street task force's recommendations have been sitting for three years. There seems to be a ludicrous bureaucratic triangle regarding who is delivering those recommendations. I hope that, as today has shown, we can establish support and that the Department for the Economy can take the lead and develop the high streets that we deserve.

1,304 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:30 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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