Tribeca Belfast plans could be helped by Stormont funds

Stormont infrastructure funds could be used to help take Belfast's stalled Tribeca development into partial public ownership, the SDLP has suggested.

The party wants the executive to explore the use of money known as Financial Transactions Capital (FTC).

The SDLP will hold a debate in the assembly on Monday calling on ministers to explore options for developing the TriBeCa site, which extends from the edges of Royal Avenue to St Anne's Cathedral.

The area has become increasingly run down as the English firm which has owned the site since 2016 has made little progress on its plans.

Castlebrooke Investments received planning permission for the office-led Tribeca scheme in January 2020.

Earlier this year, the chief executive of Belfast City Council said there had been "beyond a certain level of frustration in relation to the activity on the Tribeca site".

The council also confirmed it was exploring the possibility of vesting or compulsory purchase of the scheme.

SDLP assembly leader Matthew O'Toole said: "If the site is vested, we could deploy unspent Financial Transactions Capital (FTC) to deliver a new future for the site, with the Laganside Corporation offering some kind of precedent for how the structure might work.