Bolder Vision for Belfast - Reimagining our City Centre

The public consultation for A Bolder Vision is now closed to the general public. However, due to a technical issue that may have limited access to the Virtual Room for older and disabled people or groups the survey will remain open until 5pm on Friday 14 January 2022. To access our Virtual Room designed for screen reader assisted technology click Belfast Bolder Vision Virtual Event Space

A Bolder Vision is an ambitious blueprint to explore a shared approach to creating a more attractive, accessible, safe and vibrant city.

Developed jointly by Belfast City Council, the Department for Communities and the Department for Infrastructure, the vision is built on the principles of:

• promoting wellbeing for all
• prioritising walking, cycling and public transport
• creating lively, safe and green streets
• removing barriers to movement between the city centre and surrounding communities

A 12-week public consultation is currently running until 23rd December 2021. The consultation gives members of the public the opportunity to have their say on a number of proposals ('key moves' as we call it) for the future use of the city centre based on emerging infrastructure projects and balancing the requirements of all city stakeholders and users.

There are several areas where we believe we have an opportunity to intervene to transform critical parts of the city to create a green, people focused, connected city centre for current and future users. We call these Key Moves, as follows:

• Create a Civic Spine – establish a clearly defined and recognisable north-south civic route to provide safe and accessible movement through the city centre, including car-free streets
• Reimagine the Inner Ring Road and End Car Dominance - transform the 'inner ring' to reduce physical severance for surrounding communities and become a sustainable mobility corridor
• Promote City Centre Living - encourage city centre living by providing greater quality, choice and affordability of accommodation. Establish a city-wide network of people friendly routes and city parks
• Embrace the River Lagan and Waterfront - enhance existing, and create new, riverside attractions to encourage better use of the River Lagan. Strengthen connections between the river and the city centre.

This Your Say page is designed to engage with as many residents and stakeholders as possible to help us inform the strategy by identifying the key issues and priorities of the people who live, work, visit or invest in our city centre.

For the purposes of this consultation Belfast City Centre (the study area) is defined by the area shown within the red outline in Figure 1 below: 

The geographical boundary limits of the study area are largely defined by the Inner Ring. Moving in a clockwise direction form the north of the city centre it encompasses Carrick Hill, Frederick Street and Dunbar Link along the northern boundary; Waring Street leading to Albert Square, Donegall Quay, Oxford Street along the eastern boundary; East Bridge Street, Cromac Street, Bankmore Street, Bruce Street and Hope Street along the southern boundary, and Durham Street, Grosvenor Road, College Avenue and Millfield along the western boundary. 

We have 12 weeks to consult and during this time we want to reach as many people as possible which is why we encourage you to follow this project (link on the right) and to use the tools we created to engage on this topic (below). Your opinion matters. That is why we are also organising a number of webinars that we will advertise on this page.

We have also developed a virtual room to highlight all the key moves. For a virtual Room designed for screen reader assisted technology click Belfast Bolder Vision Virtual Event Space