A £300 million plan to regenerate Belfast City Centre has been launched.

The Victoria Square scheme will consist of 500,000sq ft of retail space, 150,000sq ft of leisure facilities, including a health club, cinema and restaurants, and around 100 residential units.

The scheme will create around 3,000 jobs during the construction phase, with another 3,000 created when the scheme opens in Spring 2007.

At a reception attended by key city centre interests, NIO Minister, John Spellar said: “My vision for the future of Belfast is for a city that is an attractive and vibrant centre for all its citizens and one that can compete with the best in Europe. This Statement will help to achieve this by providing the momentum to regenerate the City Centre. It will deliver an exciting package of new jobs, new homes, new retail opportunities for investors and local entrepreneurs and an attractive environment for everyone living in the city.

“The process of breathing new life into a city centre characterised by blight and abandonment, has already begun. Real measurable progress is already underway. Hundreds of millions of pounds are being invested in the Victoria Square Development, due for completion in 2007."

The Minister published a Regeneration Policy Statement for the City Centre which gives clear direction and a route map for further development and regeneration.

He said: “Today’s Statement is designed to build on Victoria Square by using Government’s statutory powers to stimulate a further injection of private capital to regenerate the main shopping area.

“It provides clear direction, a route map for regeneration and a guide to private sector investors by identifying our regeneration objectives, priorities, plans and guiding themes.

“Cities are about more than just bricks and mortar, and we also aim to create a city that is an attractive living, working and leisure environment for all the citizens of Belfast."

Commenting on the detail of the proposals, Mr Spellar added: “The North East Quarter, just north of the City Hall, is one of the city’s most blighted areas with abandoned buildings and a sense of desolation. The time is ripe to change the face of this area and to maximise the opportunity which it holds to help kickstart the development of the Cathedral Quarter.

“We will therefore support the early implementation of an appropriate retail-led regeneration proposal in the Royal Avenue/Cathedral Way area and will consider using statutory powers to promote and implement such a scheme.

Turning to his vision for the future, Mr Spellar concluded: “The prize of a prosperous Belfast is before us, our challenge is to seize the opportunity and make it happen. This Statement will help us meet that challenge.

"I shall make further announcements about the way forward once the appraisal of the Cathedral Way Scheme and the masterplan for the North West Quarter are completed.”

(MB)