What was the problem?
Belfast went through significant urban decline in the late 70s,
hitting its lowest point in the mid 1980s. The crisis had three main
characteristics:
• Deindustrialisation: Belfast
experienced an industrial crisis which peaked in the late 1970s/early
‘80s, which affected all the traditional industrial sectors (e.g.
shipbuilding, engineering, linen-production). Manufacturing employment
declined from 67,000 in 1973 to 18,000 in 1995. Although new jobs were
created in services during the 1980s, twice as many jobs in
manufacturing were lost over the same period.
• Political
crisis: between 1968 and 1994 Belfast was a focal point for much of the
violent conflict between loyalist and republican groups that became
known as ‘The Troubles’. As well as the infrastructural damage caused
by the conflict, the divisions between the two major ‘ethnic’ groups
(Catholics and Protestants) caused extremely high levels of spatial
segregation. Due to the climate of insecurity, those who could afford
to left the city and moved to suburban areas, making Belfast one of the
most sprawling metropolitan areas in the UK.
• Social
problems: The socio-economic impact of the political crisis was
immense. Unemployment peaked by the mid 1980s. In the 1990s, 26 or more
than half of the 51 wards in Belfast were classified as deprived.
What action was taken?
In 1989 the
public-private Laganside Corporation was created to undertake
large-scale regeneration along the River Lagan. The riverfront
contained derelict former docks and declining industrial activity; the
adjacent neighbourhoods displayed high levels of social deprivation
with high unemployment. The river itself was heavily polluted and had
come to symbolise urban decline. The corporation’s objective was to
bring social, physical and economic regeneration to an area of 140
hectares on both sides of the river.
The Gasworks
site, Laganside
On a site known as
the Gasworks, a formerly derelict 10ha area, 2,000 jobs were created.
Most of these were in the new call centre established by the Halifax
bank. It is the largest call centre in Belfast. Other large employers
include the Department for Social Development and the new SAS Radisson hotel. However,
over the years it became clear that the surrounding neighbourhoods of
South and East Belfast were not benefitting from the job creation in
the Laganside site, and were not seeing any reduction of persistent
social problems. Belfast City Council commissioned a study to consider
how existing mainstream employment initiatives could be supplemented.
As
a result of this study, in 1998 Belfast City Council established a
steering group representing different levels of government and
public/private partnerships. The group discussed options for
integrating the long-term unemployed into the labour market, and to
promote economic development more generally. As a result of these
discussions, the Gasworks Employment Matching Service (GEMS) was
launched as a pilot-project in 2002.