What has Tribeca ever done for Belfast? - Jake O’Kane

My comments in last week’s column around Belfast City Council’s dereliction of duty regarding the city centre, particularly the Tribeca non-development, ruffled a few feathers in the marbled halls.

I was invited onto BBC NI’s Evening Extra show last Monday to talk about the column. I did my best to explain what I thought of the Tribeca scheme and the council’s lack of action around it when, out of the blue, I was asked: “And what have you done for Belfast, Jake?”

It was on the tip of my tongue to reply, “Sorry, I didn’t realise you were auditioning to do holiday cover for The Nolan Show,” but I didn’t, as I’d promised my wife that I’d play nice.

Personalising the discussion in this way placed me in a no-win situation, forced into justifying my right to comment.

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If I had refused to answer, I’d have come across as evasive, with any positive answer resulting in me sounding self-congratulatory. I ended up doing the latter when I should have called out the question and done the former. The listeners who liked me would need to hear no justification, while no justification would suffice for those who didn’t like me.

I don’t believe any real mischief was intended. It was simply an example of the continuing Disneyfication of news on the BBC, where personality always seems to trump topic. I would hope that in the spirit of fair play, Evening Extra will get on representatives from both Belfast City Council and Castlebrooke Investments and ask them the same question, namely, “What has Tribeca done for Belfast?”

Immediately following my interview, the council proffered a response to what I’d written, stating: “There are significant factual errors in Jake O’Kane’s column, especially in relation to council’s role. Belfast City Council is not – and has never been – the regeneration authority for the Tribeca site, and council had no role in Castlebrooke’s acquisition of the site.”

Which would be fair enough except I hadn’t accused them of either. What I’d written was: “‘...the north of the city centre, which Belfast City Council handed to property developers to become the ridiculously named ‘Tribeca’ district, exhibits a dereliction and decay even worse than during the height of the conflict.’

“Murmurings that the council is now seeking to take back control from the ‘Tribeca’ non-developers would indicate it’s finally accepted that their brilliant deal wasn’t so brilliant after all.”

I would hope that in the spirit of fair play, Evening Extra will get on representatives from both Belfast City Council and Castlebrooke Investments and ask them the same question, namely, “What has Tribeca done for Belfast?”

Nowhere did I say the council were the ‘regeneration authority’ or had ‘a role in the acquisition of the site’. All I pointed out was that as the council planning committee had given the scheme the green light, they had to accept their share of responsibility.

‘Tribeca’ was passed in 2020 despite 443 written objections at the time, many of which viewed the proposal as an architectural scar on the city, including one from the independent heritage body, Ulster Architectural Heritage, who stated that while “regeneration is long overdue for this damaged area, blighted by developer land banking... this type of master planning is not regeneration... It is simply exploitation”.

What I wrote last week was very mild in comparison. The council should acknowledge, considering its lamentable outcome, that the planning committee should have given more weight to the objections at the outset, and inform ratepayers of exactly how much the stalled Tribeca scheme has cost them.

Offended by the unjust accusation of “significant errors”, I enquired from a lawyer friend if my character had been defamed. He informed me it hadn’t as I didn’t possess the necessary character for that to happen. I’m now considering suing him instead.

Fortunately, having faced comedy hecklers for over 30 years I possess a very thick skin, so if the council think they will crack this particular nut then they’re greatly deluded.

I take satisfaction knowing that last Monday a minion received a call from an irate council official or politician demanding a formal rebuttal of my accusations be forwarded to the BBC. That I have annoyed them to that degree suggests to me that something is rotten in the state of Denmark, although with the council maintaining an ‘A grade’ from Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful for the last five years, I’d suggest there’s a market for the magic glasses the judges must have been wearing.

Belfast City Council can rest assured I’ll be keeping a close eye on their handling of the Tribeca debacle...