Principles and Shared values

The Resilience and Sustainability Board will adopt the shared values underpinning the Belfast Agenda (as set out within the Community Plan and terms of reference for the Community Planning Partnership).

Purpose of the Resilience and Sustainability Board

To advise on and oversee the delivery and implementation of Belfast’s Resilience Strategy and in so doing, to be a key collaborative partnership aimed at building Belfast’s preparedness for strategic risks.  The Board will have particular responsibility for climate action, climate resilience and sustainable development across the city.   Critically, the Board will support the embedding and delivery of sustainable development and resilience across all Belfast Agenda priorities, linking across Boards as appropriate, and reporting on progress to the Community Planning Partnership. 

Functions of the Resilience and Sustainability Board

Within the scope of the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) mandate, the functions of the Programme Board are:

• To hold the Council, Community Planning Partners and Support Partners to account for the delivery of the outcomes, benefits and projects within the programme;
• To be accountable (through the SRO and nominated members) to the Community Planning Partnership Board;
• To provide advice and ensure collaboration on critical issues relating to resilience and sustainability for the city of Belfast; 
• To share information across organisations in a timely and appropriate way to help the city meet its resilience objectives; 
• To assure the overall health and performance of the delivery activity of the programme;
• To recognise the risks and issues affecting the delivery, including monitoring current and forecast use of funding and resources against agreed budgets, and ensure appropriate mitigations are in place;
• To provide oversight and direction to the specific mechanisms put in place to deliver the portfolio of programmes and projects and associated outcomes contained under Resilience and Sustainability; 
• To escalate issues that cannot be managed within this Programme Board with recommended action to the Council’s Corporate Management Team (CMT) or the Community Planning Partnership;
• To raise issues with recommended action to the Council’s CMT or the Community Planning Partnership where delivery activity has, or is predicted to, go outside of approved tolerances;
• To align the communication of the programme plan and delivery success with the wider Belfast Agenda portfolio; 
• To receive, consider and assess the impact of new change requirements from the Belfast Agenda portfolio or from within the programme; 
• To specify requirements for resources and programmatic support from the portfolio or Community Planning Partnership; and
• To support the Council’s CMT by identifying potential funding and resource requirements, and assessing the relative priorities for committed and potential change activities. 

Proposed membership of the Resilience and Sustainability Board

• Belfast Commissioner for Resilience 
• Community Planning Partnership nominees
• Media and Communications 
• Other key stakeholders as determined by the Commissioner for Resilience*

* Potential members may include Translink, Utility Regulator, NI Water, Department for the Economy, Belfast Harbour, Department of Finance, Department for Infrastructure 

Representatives from organisations attending the board should hold a sufficiently senior role within the organisation to be in position to put forward views on the organisations behalf, to make decisions and ensure delivery of relevant actions within their own organisation.  

Member organisations should also seek to ensure where possible that their representative(s) attends meetings of the Board on an ongoing basis to ensure continuity and consistency of the process.

Chair 

Meetings of the Resilience and Sustainability Board will be chaired by the Commissioner for Resilience, Belfast City Council - to coordinate the organisation of the meetings, secretariat, programme and strategic planning, with input from the Co-Chairs through regular planning meetings. 

Co-Chair

The role of Co-Chair/s is to lead on key streams of work as identified through Chair/Co-Chair planning sessions at key points in the planning cycle of the Resilience and Sustainability Board. Should the Chair be absent the Co-Chair/s will assume responsibility for Chairing the Board, with support from the Resilience Unit. 

Frequency

Meetings of the Resilience and Sustainability Board will take place bi-monthly (schedule of dates to be agreed by Board Members) with working groups established to focus on key priorities as agreed by the Board.

Secretariat

Secretariat for the Resilience and Sustainability Board will be provided by the Resilient Belfast team.

Quorum

At least 2 members, to include the Chair.

Review of Terms of Reference  

These terms of reference will be subject to review in line with future reviews of the Belfast Agenda and governance, and more often as necessary to ensure they are fit for purpose in ensuring the effective delivery of community planning and the Belfast Agenda,

Action Mental Health

Belfast Harbour

Belfast Met

Belfast Trust

Department of Finance

Department for Economy

Department for Infrastructure

Eastside Partnership

Civil Contingencies Resilience

Greater Shankill Partnership

Health & Social Care NI

Include Youth

Invest NI

Linen Quarter BID

NI Water

NI Council for Voluntary Action

NI Housing Executive

Police Service of NI

Translink

Utility Regulator

Ulster University

Visit Belfast 

West Belfast Partnership Board