Anita Howarth looks at the progress of a development corporation which has displayed a unique ability to find a consensus among conflicting interests.
George Mackay is a big man with big hands that swallow yours in a handshake. It is the not the physique one expects in a tightrope walker – but, as chief executive of Laganside Corporation, keeping his grip on the balancing pole is just as important.
Belfast’s equivalent of an urban development corporation has a narrower high wire to tread than its mainland counterparts. Where most urban development corporations own the land under their control, Laganside does not enjoy the same privilege. Much of the 120 acres (48.56ha) under the LC’s jurisdiction are owned by the city council, Belfast Harbour Commissioners or other private owners. The Department of the Environment’s first five-year report recognises that this is a handicap: “This weakened the corporation’s ability to secure private-sector development on a scale and at the pace required for the benefits to be maximised.”
Laganside Corporation does have compulsory purchase powers, but Mackay is adamant that these have been used only to clean up sites that have suffered from river pollution or gasworks contamination rather than site acquisition.
The organisation’s role is complicated by its lack of planning powers. For historical and political reasons, these are currently vested in central government – although this is under reconsideration by the Northern Ireland Office.
But the LC was set up in the hope that it might succeed where market forces alone could not. According to the DOE for Northern Ireland, the organisation was set up to deal with several problems: the failure of land and property markets to overcome constraints on development of the designated area; uncertainties about the costs and benefits of reclamation; multiple land ownership; and site owners who find it cheap to leave land vacant.
But the DOE’s report on the LC recognises that finding solutions to these problems may not be enough: “Northern Ireland also suffers from more general regional market failure, which limits the activity of private-sector developers even when all the local land market failures have been resolved.”
Mackay’s job is further complicated by its role in a society where economics and regeneration have taken a back seat to politics.
Given these problems, the obvious question is why has the LC not fallen off its tightrope? Part of the answer is the DOE’s belief that: “Private-sector development of sites may proceed only slowly unless the public sector is willing to fund some part or all of the gap between development costs and development values.” The LC is in a position to access the considerable EU funds on offer.
Mackay adds: “I do not think that we lose out because we do not control planning. We have to seek broad agreements. If regeneration is solely about physical development and putting buildings up, then it has been slow. If it is about consulting with a range of interests as to how development may best suit the city, which leads to a debate, the quality of decision is better.”
A case in point is the 25 acre (10.12ha) former gasworks site, which affects three communities of different political persuasions. While the LC does not have the power to make a planning decision, its ability to find a local consensus makes the final proposal to the DOE much stronger.
Mackay admits that, because the LC does not have planning powers and does not own much land, it has had to convince developers and landowners that it is not wasting time talking. But, he argues: “If we owned these sites we might have developed a year sooner; but if the site loses its value to the city, that opportunity is lost for 20 years until the site is redeveloped.”
The LC’s efforts have now begun to pay off: Ewart Developments has already attracted BT and Ladbrokes to Laganbank and Belfast Harbour Commissioners has attracted Grant Thornton to Clarendon Dock.
Mackay is convinced that the LC’s successes are due largely to the fact that, unlike other UDCs, its lifespan is unlimited: “Our staff aren’t worried about whether they are going to have a job in two years’ time. We aren’t teaching people skills only to have them leave for better opportunities. We aren’t thinking about how to wind down the operation at the same time as trying to regenerate areas.”
The DOE has recommended that, for the time being, there will be no radical change in Laganside Corporation’s current status – vindicating Mackay’s belief in long termism.
