Tribeca plan could be helped by infrastructure funds - SDLP

The SDLP is calling on ministers to explore options for developing the site

Stormont infrastructure funds could be used to help take Belfast’s stalled Tribeca development into partial public ownership, the SDLP has suggested.

The party wants the executive to explore the use of money known as Financial Transactions Capital (FTC).

The SDLP will hold a debate in the assembly on Monday calling on ministers to explore options for developing the Tribeca site, which extends from the edges of Royal Avenue to St Anne's Cathedral.

The area has become increasingly run down as the English firm which has owned the site since 2016 has made little progress on its plans.

The executive has struggled to find suitable projects and the FTC budget was underspent by more than £460m between 2016 and 2022.

FTC is a form of infrastructure spending which involves the executive investing in or making a loan to a private sector project.

'Beyond frustration'

Castlebrooke Investments received planning permission for the office-led Tribeca scheme in January 2020.

Earlier this year, the chief executive of Belfast City Council said there had been "beyond a certain level of frustration in relation to the activity on the Tribeca site".

The council also confirmed it was exploring the possibility of vesting or compulsory purchase of the scheme.

SDLP assembly leader Matthew O’Toole said: "If the site is vested, we could deploy unspent FTC to deliver a new future for the site, with the Laganside Corporation offering some kind of precedent for how the structure might work.

Permission for the office-led Tribeca scheme was granted in January 2020

"There are limitless economic, cultural and social benefits for the city to realise.

"If ministers feel this isn't the right approach, they and Belfast City Council should explain their alternative. The status quo isn't defensible any longer."

The Laganside Corporation was a publicly-owned company which operated between 1989 and 2006 with the aim of regenerating large sections of riverfront in central Belfast.

Its projects included the Lagan Weir, the Waterfront Hall and the Gasworks business park.