The failures of social housing blocks such as Divis and Unity Flats are going to be repeated at the Havelock House site, politicians at Belfast City Hall have been told.
A last-gasp appeal from residents to stop a social housing apartment block being built at the site of the former Havelock House building in South Belfast has been dismissed after elected representatives made a final approval of the application.
At the March meeting of the Belfast City Council Planning Committee, councillors reaffirmed their decision from last December to agree an application from developer Genova North West Limited, of Banbridge, in conjunction with Clanmil Housing Association for the erection of 104 residential units across two detached blocks, ranging between three and five storeys, at Havelock Place, BT7.
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An appeal by the Donegall Pass Residents Association to defer the decision for further consultation with the local community was therefore dismissed.
The development will comprise two detached blocks, ranging in height from five storeys along the Ormeau Road elevation, stepping down to 3 storeys to the rear. The scheme also includes internal courtyard gardens, communal amenity provision and landscaping, 29 car parking spaces within the site to the rear accessed via Ormeau Street, cycle parking and associated works.
The plan will cost around £25million and work has started. Sinn Féin proposed the council back the planning application, with a 100 percent provision of social housing.
On a vote, 15 elected representatives backed the proposal, from Sinn Féin, the DUP, Alliance and the Green Party, to three who were against the proposal, from Alliance.
A total of 52 representations were received by the council, including a petition objecting to the proposal with 462 signatories, 49 further letters of objection, one letter of a “mixed response,” and one letter objecting to the petition.
Despite a decision being made last December, Planning officials at the council decided to reopen the application after a letter from a solicitor representing objectors stated that residents in opposition to the application were not given adequate time with the Planning Committee.
The latest council report on the application states: “Following advice from Legal Services, the application is being reported back to the committee for procedural reasons.
“Firstly, in view of Donegall Pass Residents Association’s letter of November 25 2024 in which it refers to its previous request for a meeting with the Planning Service and Planning Committee. Officers advise that the Residents Association should be afforded the opportunity to appear before and be heard by the committee.
“Secondly, whilst the original committee report was published within the prescribed period, due to technical issues, it was published on a different part of the website and may not have been as easily accessible.”
Ernie Purvis, the Chairperson for the Donegall Pass Residents Association told the Planning Committee on Tuesday (March 19): “I wish to let it be known to the Planning Committee the strong opposition from the local community against the proposed development. A petition of opposition to the current proposals was signed by 462 local residents.
“There are 440 social houses in the Donegall Pass district, this therefore equates to every household in the district opposing the current plans. There were 50 comments of objections posted on the online planning portal, to one comment of support.
“Local residents attended two public consultation meetings on January 18 and 22 2024, where there was not one word of support for this planning proposal at these packed meetings. It is clear that this proposal is the wrong type of social housing for this site.”
He said: “Social housing apartment cluster blocks accommodation has proven to be a failure in inner city Belfast. We knocked down the Divis Flats, the Lower Shankill, and the Unity Flat Complex because of their failures.
“Now we have planners and developers trying to make the same mistakes all over again. The residents of Donegall Pass wish to put on record their support for the correct type of social housing.
“This can be seen with their letter of support to Clanmil for its proposal of low levels streets of housing, of two and three bedroom family houses to be built on the upper part of Donegall Pass at Causeway Street. This would mix and blend in with the current surrounding houses in this district.”
He read out points raised by LORAG, the Lower Ormeau Road Action Group to Clanmil in December 2024. This read: “Given the complexities of those presenting for general needs and over 55’s in one bedroom, to mix all of these in such a small site presents a future management nightmare.”
It added: “We are of the view that the mix of tenure is in fact a poor attempt to provide cover for the over development of this site. Given the intelligence and experience that exists within Clanmil, any subjective analysis of the complex needs that exists for such a patchwork of tenure, coupled with 21 percent of the overall development as one bedroom, the current proposal is seriously flawed.
“It is a recipe for future problems, which we believe will fatally undermine the project.”
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive again maintained its position on the application, stating that no more than 80 percent of the apartments should be social housing. They again indicated support for 84 units, stating “mixed tenure is essential to create sustainable/thriving communities.”
NIHE considers that approval of 100 percent social housing on a scheme of this size is contrary to planning policy.
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