Stakeholders working to improve Lisburn city centre

Lisburn city centre stakeholders recently held their first meeting of 2017 to discuss ways of increasing trade and growing the local economy.
By The Newsroom
Published 30th Jan 2017, 10:34 BST
Updated 30th Jan 2017, 10:48 BST
Pictured at the recent city centre stakeholders meeting are: (l-r) Councillor Uel Mackin, Chairman of the council's Development Committee; Lisa Blevins, Easons Lisburn; Mayor Brian Bloomfield MBE; Dr Theresa Donaldson, Chief Executive of Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council and Colin Patterson, Smyth Patterson.Pictured at the recent city centre stakeholders meeting are: (l-r) Councillor Uel Mackin, Chairman of the council's Development Committee; Lisa Blevins, Easons Lisburn; Mayor Brian Bloomfield MBE; Dr Theresa Donaldson, Chief Executive of Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council and Colin Patterson, Smyth Patterson.
Pictured at the recent city centre stakeholders meeting are: (l-r) Councillor Uel Mackin, Chairman of the council's Development Committee; Lisa Blevins, Easons Lisburn; Mayor Brian Bloomfield MBE; Dr Theresa Donaldson, Chief Executive of Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council and Colin Patterson, Smyth Patterson.

Local traders, partner organisations, statutory agencies and elected members of council met to discuss the economic performance of the city centre, the planning of new events and initiatives that will take place over the coming months.

Attendees received an update on the extensive research work currently being carried out into the socioeconomic profile of city centre users, and the results from the recent city centre Christmas marketing campaign. They were also provided with information on a new one-to-one mentoring and tailored support programme available for local businesses, which is being provided through the council’s Business Solutions Team.

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The Chairman of the council’s Development Committee, Councillor Uel Mackin, opened the proceedings and welcomed the large group of attendees.

“In the past 12 months the council’s City Centre Management Team have delivered a number of successful events and initiatives to draw people into the city centre. This work will continue throughout 2017, and through further stakeholder meetings will identify the projects that work well for the city centre and continue to deliver in partnership with our city centre businesses,” he said.

The city centre stakeholders were given information about the planned £3.7m Lisburn Linkages public realm works and were assured that they will be kept updated throughout the process.

Council Chief Executive, Dr Theresa Donaldson, commented: “These meetings, organised on a quarterly basis, give the opportunity for everyone to feed into the process and bring forward suggestions on how we can continue to work together to improve our city centre, providing space for sharing views and ideas.

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“The Community Planning Partnership is represented by the PSNI, Libraries NI, SERC and the Department for Communities at the meetings which enables more discussion with the key stakeholders within the business community.

“The council supports the city centre through a variety of initiatives and events with the aim of strengthening partnerships between various stakeholders in order to increase footfall and thus trade.”

The next stakeholder meeting is scheduled to take place in April 2017.

Related topics:LisburnDepartment for Communities