Belfast City Council: Neighbourhood Regeneration Fund

Overview

The Neighbourhood Regeneration Fund (NRF) aims to help groups deliver physical development projects that will make a real, long term difference in their communities. Projects must fit within one of three themes:

• social economy
• environmental sustainability, or
• neighbourhood tourism

What projects can be funded?

The fund is for capital projects only. The list below gives an idea of the type of things that can be funded, but it is not exhaustive. It can be used to fund the following capital costs:

• Building and engineering works needed to deliver the project (for example, new build, extension, refurbishment, modernisation or conversion).
• Plant and equipment necessary for running the project.
• Purchase of land, buildings, equipment or fixtures and fittings that are linked to the project.
• Professional fees associated with capital spending on the project, including project management and legal fees.

Outcomes

The Neighbourhood Regeneration Fund is their fresh approach to physical regeneration across the city. The themes of the NRF are directly linked to the Belfast Agenda and the Belfast City Recovery Framework: social economy, environmental sustainability and neighbourhood tourism.

They will use an Outcomes Based Accountability approach, or OBA, to monitor the impact of the fund. It measures effectiveness and impact by answering three questions: How much did we do? How well did we do it? Is anyone any better off?

All applicants must demonstrate at Stage 1 Application Stage how their project meets some of the NRF’s outcomes. More detail on outcomes is available in the application pack.

Assessment criteria

Projects will be assessed and scored against four key criteria:

• affordability
• deliverability
• feasibility, and
• sustainability.

Eligibility

To be eligible you must answer yes to all of the following questions:

• Is your project seeking funding of over £250,000?
• Is your proposal a capital project?
• Is the project in the Belfast City Council area?
• Does your proposal align to (at least) one of these three themes – neighbourhood tourism, social economy or environmental sustainability?
• Can you confirm that your project will have no ongoing revenue implications for the council?
• Can you demonstrate that your organisation is not an individual, sole trader or profit-making organisation*?
• Can you demonstrate that your project is not on a council asset, unless there is a long-term lease from the council to a third party in place?
• Does your organisation have a memorandum of association or constitution?
• Does your organisation have a board that meets regularly?
• Does your organisation have management accounts dated within the last three months and signed as agreed by the board of directors or management committee?
• Does your organisation have six months’ most recent bank statements?

If you do answer no to any of the questions, it is unlikely that you are eligible. Please note that they will also check that your project is within our legal powers to deliver.

* They expect that social enterprises and co-operatives will be able to apply, but this is subject to approval at the full council meeting on 1 March 2022.