Housing Minister Nelson McCausland has confirmed pilot areas for his regeneration programme to build successful communities.

The six areas selected are at Belfast's Lower Oldpark/Hillview, Divis/Albert Street, Tiger's Bay/Mountcollyer, Shankill/Brown Square, Andersonstown and Doury Road in Ballymena.

Speaking ahead of a visit to some of the pilot areas, Minister McCausland said: "While much has been done to support disadvantaged communities some initiatives have not really worked in the way that they should have. There are still areas blighted by dereliction and decay, with empty houses that are boarded up and land that lies derelict and undeveloped. These problems drag a community down, becoming magnets for anti-social behaviour and dumping. They blight the lives of the residents, creating despair and they are a lost opportunity. It is wrong to condemn people to living in such situations and I am determined to do something about it.

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"In the past there was a tendency to simply bulldoze the empty properties, clear the site and walk away. But a bulldozer and some grass seed is simply not good enough. It leaves communities with the heart torn out of them. We need a more radical approach that will deliver results.

"I want to see a more radical and strategic approach. An approach that truly engages with local people so what have become forgotten communities, can once again become thriving and successful. This has been done elsewhere and this pilot programme will allow us to try out a range of initiatives to see what works best and what could work in other places too."

The new initiative, which is part of the Minister's 'Facing the Future - Housing Strategy for Northern Ireland', aims to use housing intervention as one of the main catalysts for local regeneration. Work in the areas will involve concerted social, economic and physical interventions by the Department for Social Development’s Housing and Urban Regeneration Directorates together with support from the Social Security Agency, the Housing Executive, Housing Associations, local communities and key statutory and voluntary agencies to develop solutions that will reverse decline and create more sustainable communities.

(CD/MH)