'I think Belfast has huge potential to be even looking at the next five to 10 years in the top 10 retail and hospitality destinations in the UK'
Belfast is on the verge of undergoing a huge transformation with numerous "game-changing" developments in the pipeline that could see the city become unrecognisable in the next decade.
It will feature 26 bus stands, eight railway platforms, cycle and taxi provisions and the capacity to welcome more people, as well as the Belfast to Dublin Enterprise service running from there. "Whether it is Ulster University, Sirocco, the Transport Hub, and hopefully we will see Tribeca the Castlebrooke development being able to move forward, so I think there's a lot of potential for Belfast city centre.
Plenty of work is ongoing via Belfast City Council's Future City Centre programme which looks at ways of supporting the city’s existing retail offer, delivering enhanced connectivity and supporting sustainable and active travel, delivering investment and inclusive economic opportunities and a strong cultural character to provide a distinctly Belfast feel to the city centre.
Plans are also progressing to redesign the Cathedral Gardens into a new city park and consider how to better connect this area to the new city park at City Quays. "We can not start anything on that until 2025 when Grand Central Station is due to open so it will be a few years before we see anything there but there will be some sign work and commissioning contractors over the next couple of years. By 2025/2026 we will start to see work on Weavers Cross.
A spokeswoman added: "It will improve connectivity for everyone in Northern Ireland and beyond and act as a highly impressive gateway. "The solution is to reduce cars in the city centre and replace that with other forms of urban mobility and that will include the North-South Glider which does have money in the City Deal for and will include more cycle lanes which we don't have money for."
"No one to say how do we improve this area and make it better. That is what BIDs do. At our next vote in January we are moving down to Shaftesbury Square, we do not cover it at the moment but we are going to move down and become the voice for Shaftesbury Square, Dublin Road, Great Victoria Street and bring some of those improvements and make a difference.
Mr Roberts, of Retail NI said: "Instead of looking at these derelict, empty spaces as the failures of yesterday, look at them as the businesses of tomorrow. We have to change that narrative, change that conversation and really ask ourselves what are we going to do with this empty space.
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