The Community Planning Strategic Partnership (CPSP) for Armagh City Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council launched today, Thursday 19 May, the first Place Plan of its kind in Northern Ireland for Armagh, at the Armagh City Hotel. The plan entitled ‘Celebrating our Stars and Stories’, supported by the Department for Communities and the Housing Executive, was developed through extensive consultation, research, and the bringing together of key Community Planning partners to create a shared vision for the communities they serve.
The Place Plan has been developed to help bridge the gap between spatial and community planning for the city. Instead of taking the traditional approach of focusing on physical sites and changes first, the outcomes and ideas from the community have been central to the plans development, creating suggestions for spaces and places in where change could happen.
Welcoming the launch of the Armagh Place Plan, Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey said:
“I am delighted my Department has been able to support the development of the new Armagh Place Plan, an important roadmap for those who wish to live and work, to visit and invest in Armagh. The Department recognises the importance of high quality places in which communities can thrive and, through the development of the Armagh Place Plan, we now have a real opportunity to help build a green, healthy, connected and engaging city. I look forward to seeing this ambitious vision for Armagh City , come to life over the coming months and years.”
The plan details the aspirations for the city that will be taken forward as a shared agenda for Armagh through collaborative partnership working. The outworkings of the plan align to local strategies and seek to deliver upon key aims within the regional Community Plan. These carefully considered outcomes provide a guiding framework for organisations and individuals in Armagh to improve the spaces and places in the city. The four key themes for development focus on making Armagh; a connected city, a greener city, an engaged city and a healthy city.
Speaking at the event the Lord Mayor of Armagh City Banbridge and Craigavon Borough, Alderman Glenn Barr said:
“The collaborative partnership process that has created this visionary Place Plan for Armagh is a clear indicator of the energy, passion and commitment local businesses, statutory agencies, community organisations and residents have for our richly historic and unique city. This Plan recognises and highlights the culture that weaves through Armagh’s people, buildings, places and spaces, creating a vision for the future of a vibrant, creative and environmentally responsible city”.
Keynote speaker at the event was Cormac Russell, author and Managing Director of Nurture Development. During his address Cormac drew on his experience as a faculty member of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute, at DePaul University, Chicago, linking his experience of developing ‘citizen spaces’ to the excellent collaborative work that has been undertaken in the development of the City’s forward-thinking Place Plan.
Additional speakers addressing the audience included; Jak Spencer, Managing Director of Urban Scale International (USI), Dr Hannah Dalgleish, University of Oxford, and Dr Gavan Rafferty, Ulster University. All speakers provided key insights into the importance of strategic place shaping for the future and partnership working, to ensure a new dynamic can be created to respond to the changing needs of residents, business and communities for future generations to prosper.
The plan is ambitious and will make the most of opportunities such as the Mid South West Growth Deal, PEACE Plus and the Levelling Up agenda to ultimately improve the quality of life for people in the city.
If anyone is interested in finding our more about the Armagh Place Plan you can telephone: 028 4066 0644, email: , or click here.
