Debate contribution: Tribeca, Belfast: Development
Debate contribution by Mr Gerry Kelly on .
- MLA
- Mr Gerry Kelly
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 30 September 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Adjournment
- Heading
- Tribeca, Belfast: Development
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5143440
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Consensus has broken out, so I will keep this short. There were a couple of points that I really wanted to make, but some of them have already been made. I thank Phillip Brett for bringing the topic to the Chamber. It is opportune. Planning permission was granted in 2020 for what was sold as a £500 million regeneration scheme of the Cathedral Quarter, whereby 12 acres of the city centre were meant to be brought back to life with homes, offices and shops. Five years on, however, nothing has happened, as other Members have said; in fact, planning applications have only been withdrawn. No real step forward has been taken; promises have not been kept; and the site lies idle. I agree with all that has been said about Castlebrooke Investments. Unfortunately, that probably goes for a lot of huge investment companies. Nuala mentioned — she did not use the term — land banking, and that is what Tribeca appears to be. Land banking does not only happen here, but the Tribeca site is a huge example of it. Companies will flip the land when the price goes up, after which somebody else will hold on to it for a long time, waiting for the right opportunity to make the most money from selling it on. We have to look at that and see what we can do about it. I read some of Castlebrooke's stuff. The company said that it was frustrated: it is not as frustrated as the people of Belfast. Who pays the price for the delay? It is not the developers in London but the people of the Belfast. As has been mentioned, small businesses have been pushed out of the area. Others have been brave enough to stay, and fair play to them for doing so. The area is a site of absolute dereliction. The Assembly Rooms is one of the most historic buildings in the city, and it was left abandoned while developers chased profit. The building is where Henry Joy McCracken was sentenced in 1798, and it should be restored and respected as an important part of our history, whatever our view of history is, not left to fall into disrepair. Belfast City Council, as I understand it, is at the contract stage of purchasing the building and bringing it back into the ownership of the people of Belfast, which is what we should see done with the entire area, at least where that is possible. We expect completion soon. That is the leadership that we need. Community groups have also stepped up where developers have failed. Save CQ has sent thousands of letters objecting to the wrong type of development. The group is advocating for social homes and safe play areas to be included in any development and for developers to engage with artists and with the culture sector, which is essential to our city. Save CQ is rightly calling on developers to develop, not demolish, a lot of our heritage. The Department for Communities and the Minister have the vesting powers and the regeneration powers. I think that the Minister spoke about that earlier. I agree that the matter is not just for the Assembly and the Minister; it is also for the council, which has showed leadership on all of it. If the developer cannot develop what it promised, those powers should be used. The failed Tribeca — I hate the name as well, just for the record — development is a lesson in what can happen when development is handed over to private businesses without accountability. The people of this city deserve better. We deserve a city centre that belongs to us. It will have a snowball effect. It is a huge site of 12 acres that will spread out and attract tourism, nightlife and all the rest of it. I think that everybody is united in arguing for that.
652 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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