A community neighbourhood renewal partnership says they are seeing increased levels of poverty in their ward.
The Crumlin/Ardoyne Neighbourhood Renewal Partnership has set out a ten year plan, from 2020-2030, which saw community groups come together and outlined some of the key issues in the area.
Those included poor health, low level of skills and education attainment, poverty, high unemployment, few opportunities for young people, interfaces and poor community relations.
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Speaking to Belfast Live, Gayle Dalton, Neighbourhood Renewal co-ordinator outlined figures they have obtained for their action plan.
"More than 15,000 people live in the Crumlin Ardoyne Neighbourhood Renewal Area. This includes the communities of Ardoyne, Cliftonville, Lower Oldpark, Marrowbone and Westland," Gayle added.
"These are some of the most deprived communities in Northern Ireland. They are areas heavily affected by 30 years of conflict and physical barriers/peace walls continue to divide communities.
"The area is made up of the Waterworks and Ardoyne wards and parts of the Crumlin and Cliftonville wards. Waterworks is the number one most deprived and Ardoyne is number three most deprived out of 462 wards. This means the area is in the top 1% most deprived across Northern Ireland.
"Nearly two-thirds of the children in the area live in child poverty. The median age of death in Crumlin/Ardoyne is 72, more than 8 years below the NI average.
"We’re not naive enough to think we can turn the tide of poverty and disadvantage in the short term. This requires long term and substantial investment and community wealth building. An area of England with a similar population to Crumlin/Ardoyne area received £50 million investment over a ten year period.
"That would allow us to pull in additional investment and begin to turn the curve on poverty and deprivation.
"From action plan, this we agreed five key outcomes for the area:
"1. Residents play an active part in economic life
"2. We live longer,healthier, active lives
"3. We are a shared community that respects diversity
"4. We give our children and young people the best start in life
"5. We live in a safe community"
Gayle says there has been no capital investment in the Crumlin/Ardoyne area for 20 years and that there are no major employers in the area either.
With a capital build, Gayle says their team would be able to look into agreements with building contractors to employ young people.
She said: "We are putting young people through loads of different courses to see if we can help them find something thy enjoy, and want to stick to.
"In terms of poverty in the area, children are starving. Their parents are starving. I have been in the food banks and the demand is high and until there is proper investment in these areas and jobs for local people we will never get a grip on this."
Communities Minister Deidre Hargey said she was delighted to have been asked to contribute to the Crumlin Ardoyne Neighbourhood Renewal Partnership’s Action Plan.
Minister Hargey said: "I really value the impact made on a daily basis by the dedicated people and community organisations hat make up the Partnership, representing local communities and delivering high quality community based services, working together to improve outcomes for all the citizens in the Crumlin Ardoyne area.
"The key outcomes identified by the Partnership align closely to Executive’s Programme for Government and the Department’s Building Inclusive Communities strategy, and this challenging and positive action plan helps identify key grass roots priorities that will help direct services and investment as we continue supporting people, building communities and shaping places.
"I will continue to support Crumlin Ardoyne Neighbourhood Partnership as it strives to improve the lives of citizens and communities through the priorities in this action plan, as we work together to tackle deprivation and inequality."
For more information on the work of Crumlin/Ardoyne Neighbourhood Renewal Partnership please follow here.
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