Comment from the Editor

"Isn’t it good to see that the Strategic Investment Board, set up by the Government to promote investment in infrastructural developments, has got its priorities in order.

Instead of upping the pace on much needed road improvements, for example, it has gone public with detailed proposals for Invest NI’s new showpiece headquarters.

And what an exhaustive process it is, presumably to ensure that the INI civil servants get just the sort of building they need and think they deserve.

Back in July, Minister Ian Pearson announced a short list of four consortia and four sites – at Adelaide Street, Lanyon Place, Bedford Street and Titanic Quarter.

At the very end of last month, he produced another document which contained the news that after a detailed assessment and stringent process (their words, not our’s)….the shortlist has been whittled down to three consortia and three sites.

Titanic Quarter, curiously, bit the dust at the first major hurdle in the complex PPP process.

At this rate of going, the Minister will announce a final short list of two next month and we might find out by Christmas who the lucky winner will be. In the meantime, quite a few pounds of public money will have been spent before a bulldozer appears on whatever site is eventually chosen.

The new Invest NI headquarters, according to the Government, will be expected to reflect the role of the organisation ‘in the development of a vibrant local economy’.

By going through the PPP process, at least the whole effort will be putting something into the economy.

But, given all the infrastructure imperatives around here in Northern Ireland, is it really necessary to spend a small fortune on a gleaming new structure for a government agency which has hardly set the world on fire?


On an entirely different subject, local government knows a thing or two about spending large amounts of money of rather pointless exercises too.

Take the recent launch of Belfast City Council’s so-called Development Agenda, which sets out to deliver ‘a joined-up’ approach to city development.

This little exercise (no cost has been put on it, but it is unlikely to be cheap) will run alongside the Council’s £11 million Local Economic Development Plan.

The launch material is so cliché-ridden that it is likely to be fairly incomprehensible to the ordinary citizen.

At the launch event, Councillor Ian Crozier, ‘Chair’ of the Development Committee, talked about ‘roadmaps’, ‘vision’, ‘best practice’, ‘the world stage’, ‘civic leadership’, ‘alignment’ and ‘focus’.

Apparently, the crucial element to the success of the Agenda is how the City Council can ‘foster strong, creative and mutually beneficial relationships between the various partner organisations in and around the city, who have taken part in widespread consultation that informed the agenda.’

And the city has to ‘cultivate an environment that allows an enriching diverse, cultural and artistic life to blossom’.

Impressive but fairly incomprehensible stuff.

Perhaps they could start by cleaning the place up a bit more often and agreeing between themselves to take down all the threatening flags.

But maybe we’re just too pragmatic…….!"

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