Member's statement: Westland Community Centre: Urban Villages Funding
Member's statement by Mr Brian Kingston on .
- MLA
- Mr Brian Kingston
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 10 December 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Westland Community Centre: Urban Villages Funding
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4715307
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I commend the work of Westland Community Group in North Belfast and wish, in particular, to celebrate the allocation of Urban Villages funding for a new Westland Community Centre, which was confirmed by junior Minister Reilly in the Chamber yesterday in response to questions for oral answer from Phillip Brett and me. I met the Westland Community Group committee last night. It is, of course, delighted with the allocation of £1·6 million for the new, purpose-built community centre. Westland is an estate of just over 200 houses. Built by the Housing Executive over 50 years ago, it is now a mixture of social housing, owner-occupied properties and private rentals. The Westland Community Group was started 42 years ago, and, 23 years ago, the group received a second-hand prefabricated community centre from the lower Oldpark area as a temporary measure. With structural supports physically holding up the roof, the group got as much use as it could out of that centre until, five years ago, it was finally condemned and had to be demolished. There have been many efforts over the years to secure funding for a new centre. Now, thanks to Urban Villages, which sits in the Executive Office, that has been achieved. I congratulate the community group's committee, under chairperson Robert Hollywood, for its dedication and tenacity in reaching this breakthrough moment. Vice chair, Katie Shoukri, who has been a member of the committee since the very start, 42 years ago, and is a former chairperson deserves a special mention. "Well done" to Katie for that long commitment. I also give special thanks to officials from the Urban Villages team, particularly Joe Hinds, and from Belfast City Council, particularly community worker Siobhan Shannon, and to all others who have supported the group in its campaign. I make special mention of councillors Fred Cobain and Jordan Doran and, previously, Harry Smith of Intercomm. Considering that Westland is such a small area, I have been impressed by the energy and activities of Westland Community Group. Even without a centre, it managed to hold summer schemes, community fun days and pensioners' dinners. I have every confidence that it will make great use of the future centre for the Westland community and others who will benefit from it. In the patchwork quilt of North Belfast, Westland is a predominantly unionist community, but the community group participates in various cross-community activities and is becoming more ethnically diverse. People from neighbouring areas attend its fun days and other activities. Now that there is a clear pathway to the delivery of the new centre, the relevant agencies must continue to support the Westland Community Group. I trust that the letter of offer will be issued soon. Again, congratulations to all concerned.
455 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.93).
- Subject area: Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.05 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.35 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.93 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.07 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.80 |
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.10 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.05 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.02 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:43 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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