SKILLS & KNOWLEDGE FOR SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES

CASE STUDY Suffolk Lenadoon Interface Project

OVERVIEW This case study describes cross-community Photo courtesy of SLIG: www.slig.co.uk regeneration projects in an area of West characterised by ethno-religious segregation and inter-community violence. It illustrates how small scale trust-building initiatives have been the basis of increasing co-operation in regeneration projects, which in turn have acted as an effective catalyst in overcoming cross community tensions. BACKGROUND The political instability and civil unrest witnessed in from the late housing in outer West Belfast. The area has 1960s to the mid-1990s left many settlements experienced considerable violence, heavily divided across sectarian lines, leaving intimidation and population change since the 68% of all wards in Northern Ireland with a start of ‘’, with both Protestants population of more than 70% of one ethno- and Catholics often abandoning their homes religious community or the other. Inter- around the interface for safer territorial community violence and the resulting heartlands. Suffolk continued to decline, segregation has had a major impact on many deepened by geographic isolation, of the urban communities of Northern Ireland, residualisation and the construction of a and has been particularly acute in Belfast. physical peaceline around two-thirds of the The effects of segregation include the estate. The demographic dynamic dislocation of housing and labour markets; underpinning the conflict in Belfast is vital to communities trapped behind “peacelines”, understanding the contested nature of deepening their isolation from services; territory; with Protestants having a lower concentrations of severe deprivation in fertility rate, older age structure and smaller interfaces that are blighted and blighting, not family sizes than their Catholic counterparts, least to international investors and tourists; who occupy a narrower band of territory and a disproportionate rate of deaths and concentrated mainly in the west of the city. As violence during more than three decades of Protestant communities have declined and violence in “peaceline” communities. This Catholic population increased, the pressure of legacy offers huge challenges to achieving restricted land availability and housing supply aspirational goals of social and economic has become more acute. However, territoriality sustainability in the affected communities. is deeply embedded in ‘not an inch’, zero sum Official responses to these realities have been politics and is part of the construction and scant, yet there is considerable evidence of expression of identity and conflict, simply not innovative practice in engaging with even the reducible to the type of objectification implied most stubborn problems particularly their in regulatory planning in such a context. potential for wider learning. This case study Housing then became a crucial resource in focuses on one of these examples, based marking and claiming territory and was deeply around one particular “peaceline”, or interface, symbolic in the constitutional contest over in West Belfast. Northern Ireland, as witnessed in the destabilising influence of temporary surrender Suffolk is a small Protestant housing estate of of land in the form of traditional Orange 800 residents surrounded by mainly Catholic parades.

KEY WORDS

„ Community conflict „ Segregation „ Regeneration „ Trust

of both communities. As a result, a mobile THE PROJECT telephone network was established among Against the context outlined above, a community workers. Here, any signs of community group in Suffolk and another in violence were identified and dealt with by Catholic Lenadoon agreed a Peacebuilding activists on both sides of the interface, which Plan for the interface area in 2007, supported built trust between a wider group of community by the American charity, Atlantic workers. A joint statement helped to prepare Philanthropies. The Plan built on decades of both groups to handle the dispute and it laid patient, high risk micro-contacts which had the foundation for potential further cross- slowly developed a sense of trust between community dialogue. This re-engagement led community activists in the area. Initial to the formation of the Suffolk-Lenadoon contacts started in the 1980s over the need for Interface Group (SLIG) to deal with two very traffic lights on the main Stewartstown Road, specific issues: the need to address the which is the effective dividing line between physical environment of the Stewartstown Suffolk and Lenadoon. An existing Lower Road interface and the development of robust Lenadoon Housing Group and its full time governance structures that could withstand Development Worker suggested a joint external shocks such as parading or internal approach and after initial discussions both the threats such as paramilitaries. Suffolk and Lenadoon residents staged a sit- A company was formed called the down protest to block the road. This opened Stewartstown Road Regeneration Project; this up relationships with activists on either side which facilitated conversations, exposed perceptions, misconceptions and half-truths about the origin and practice of interface violence. The meetings also helped to identify common-cause issues and grew mutual confidence in the minority Protestant community that the larger Catholic community was neither threatening nor predatory. However, relationships remained delicate, with inter-community conflict flaring up at times of heightened political tension, such as during was managed by four members of the the dispute over marches in Lenadoon Community Forum, four members Drumcree in the late 1990s. The impact of this from the Suffolk Community Forum and four wider context was explained by a Protestant independent members recruited for their community worker: expertise in local development. The company “Even though things eventually did die focused on a single project to build a two down it looked as if the whole storey block of shops and offices on the site of interface initiative was finished. a derelict property on the Stewartstown Road. People were interviewed in the media, Retailing on the ground floor would generate a saying that the after what they went commercial rent whilst the upper storey was through how could they ever be allocated for offices for community groups and government offices. An external facilitator expected to trust the other side. So it supported the development of the legal, did look as though the whole thing was financial and constitutional aspects of the near to collapse” project. The project also set out rules on the After a period of ‘cooling off’, tentative use of symbols, flags and emblems and meetings were resumed but with the risk that established processes for dealing with issues, such as parading, had the potential to disputes and areas of conflict. destabilise relationships. However, the local The next challenge was to bring the wider groups were supported by community communities on board using public relations facilitators to directly address the presentations of the plans to both sides of the issues of concern by developing a joint appeal divide. The SLIG group particularly highlighted against violence whilst committing to the rights the role of women in Suffolk in negotiating with Page 2

hostile interests and disinterested local people • Identify activities that are required and who were tenacious in selling the to provide security and build message at considerable personal risk: confidence within and between “These women were all very vocal and communities; and made themselves very unpopular with • Identify and respect that some some of the things that they said and some activities, services and spaces will of the things they did, but they were not be addressed in the short term prepared to step out and try something.” but may form part of future options. Despite these reservations, a public meeting produced almost unanimous support for the Furthermore the plan will include project in Suffolk; the community endorsed the proposals of the development of an openness of the discussions and recognised Advocacy role and the development of that the project offered a “win-win” solution. Good Practice projects that can benefit Funding for the regeneration project came both communities. The Joint Plan will from the Department for Social Development and the International Fund for Ireland and include indicative budgets and when implemented, the new centre completely timeframes for activities. It will also reshaped the interface, physically and socially. include indicative levels of investment from other bodies including statutory The police organizations.” reported a significant The voluntary sector organisation, Community drop in Places, provided technical planning expertise to assist with the wider consultation in each of the communities. The Local Peace Building Plan identified issues, especially housing, that were too contentious to deal with in this context, so agreement was reached that effort interface was focussed on areas such as health and violence, the sports, young people and women’s Photos courtesy of SLIG: new property development, which required enhanced trust www.slig.co.uk units were fully and reciprocation. occupied and Difficulties were encountered wjth staff confidence in the investment environment is recruitment in the creation of the interface reflected in the construction of a new retail plan, but a baseline study has now been store on an adjacent site on the Stewartstown prepared to identify actions and to help Road. The project gained additional allocate resources. The group highlight that momentum with a new 50 place childcare had it not been for Atlantic Philanthropies, the facility proposed in a Phase 2 development to momentum built by SLIG would have been lost be funded by the EU PEACE II Programme. as the government’s regeneration agency (the Atlantic Philanthropies worked to develop the Department for Social Development) would concept of shared space in order to not commit to continued funding. The group consolidate and develop these small gains via came to the view that government a locally based Peace Building Plan. This was demonstrated little understanding of the described in a joint statement by the two complexity of interface problems and the need groups. for structured resource allocation. Prioritising interfaces as a spatial problem is itself an “The Plan will respect the positions and important challenge requiring a different set of values of each community while bargaining and argumentation skills and one specifically seeking to: which the formal state apparatus appears • Identify shared spaces that can be incapable of adequately addressing. accessed by both communities;

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REFERENCES THE IMPACT The Interface project in the Suffolk-Lenadoon Murtagh, B. (2002) The Politics of Territory; area has helped transform a situation of Policy and Segregation in Northern Ireland, violent conflict into a state of mutual co- Basingstoke, Palgrave operation. This has grown from very small scale, even personal contacts, into Murtagh, B. and Carmichael, P. (2006) neighbourhood wide regeneration initiatives, Sharing Place: A study of mixed housing in with cross-community trust incrementally Ballynafeigh, South Belfast, Belfast, Northern developing with each stage of cooperative Ireland Housing Executive. practice. Although essentially a grass roots initiative, this has been catalysed and Murtagh, B., Graham, B. and Shirlow, P. supported by well targeted charity and state (2008) Authenticity and stakeholder planning funding, providing essential resources that in the segregated city, Progress and Planning, have given a degree of sustainability and Vol.69, No.2, pp.41-92. growth to the initiative. Hall, M. (2007) Building Bridges at the Grassroots: The Experience of Suffolk- LESSONS LEARNED Lenadoon Interface Group, Island Pamphlets 18, Belfast Island Publications. On the surface, the political context of Northern Ireland and the intensity of the civil conflict witnessed there makes it look as if it Acknowledgement: would hold few opportunities for policy learning in a wider UK context. However, All photos by kind courtesy of Suffolk and many urban areas within Great Britain witness Lenadoon Interface Group (SLIG) different forms of community tension and it is Suffolk Lenadoon Interface Group, 124 suggested that the Suffolk-Lenadoon Stewartstown Road, Belfast, BT11 9JQ, experience illustrates a number of core Northern Ireland, Tel: 028 9062 9146 principles that may also be applied in these contexts, including: Website: http://www.slig.co.uk/ • The development of micro-relationships E-mail: [email protected] of trust are vital in conflict transformation and need to be developed from the bottom up Other relevant contacts: • Appropriate policy responses in the Belfast Interface Project, 3rd floor, 109-113 context of community tension must be Royal Ave, Belfast BT1 1FF, contextualized by an appreciation of the landscape of power and resource Tel: 02890242828 allocation, which will orientate action to e-mail: [email protected] more engaged and pragmatic processes www.belfastinterfaceproject.org • While physical regeneration projects on

their own cannot ease community tensions, if they help address cross- Project publications: community benefits, they can become a Suffolk and Lenadoon Interface Group (SLIG) catalyst for wider conflict transformation (2008) The Interface and Beyond 2008- 2013 processes. Belfast, SLIG • Public sector funding in areas of community tension is fraught with political sensitivity and risk, but cross- Brendan Murtagh community initiatives are often reliant on Queens University Belfast long-term secured funding.

ESRC/HCA Academy Joint Targeted Initiative on Skills & Knowledge for Sustainable Communities (2009) http://gs.strath.ac.uk/suscoms