Agenda item

            New Lease at Duncrue Industrial Estate

            The Committee was informed that Action Mental Health held from the Council a 99 year lease from 1st January, 1975 for a site measuring approximately 0.8 acres at Duncrue Industrial Estate, subject to a current rent of £10,000 per annum.  The lease contained a seven-year rent review clause and the rent was due for review on 1st January, 2010.  The lease contained also a clause restricting use of the premises to light or general industrial purposes.  As part of the negotiations for the installation of a Northern Ireland Electricity cable to serve the North Foreshore, officers had agreed to grant Action Mental Health a new 125 year lease at a rent of £15,000 per annum reviewable every five years.  The lease would allow for any reasonable commercial or industrial use.

            The Committee granted approval for the new 125 year lease to Action Mental Health at Plot 30, Duncrue Industrial Estate on the terms outlined.

            Land at Sliabh Dubh

            In accordance with Standing Order 60, the Committee was notified that the Parks and Leisure Committee, at its meeting on 9th October, had agreed to the acquisition of a portion of land at Sliabh Dubh, off the Springfield Road, Belfast at nil capital cost and rent free for the purpose of providing a children’s playground.  The Committee noted also that the estimated cost of the playground would be £200,000 and the acquisition would be subject to the Council’s Capital Projects Gateway process.

            Land at Barnett Demesne

            In accordance with Standing Order 60, the Committee was informed that the Parks and Leisure Committee, at its meeting on 15th January, had agreed to transfer to the Belfast Activity Centre a portion of land at Barnett Demesne close to Shaw’s Bridge for the purposes of developing a Boat House.

            It was reported that, since that meeting, further discussions had been held with representatives of Belfast Activity Centre and it had been proposed:

(i)      to enter into a Licence Agreement with the Belfast Activity Centre to allow the work on site to progress.  The Licence would seek to protect the Council’s interests in terms of any claims, reinstatement of the lands, duration of the construction works and the expected quality of the finished building, as per the submitted plans.  The Licence would run from the date the works commenced on site until the date of completion of the works, which was anticipated to be in March, 2009; and

(ii)     since the Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure, which also owned a portion of the land on which the Boat House would be built, intended to grant to the Belfast Activity Centre a 21-year lease from the date the Boat House construction was completed, that the Council grant a 21-year lease to that Department which would run concurrently with its lease to the Centre.  The Council’s lease to the Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure would define the extent of the land to be leased, would restrict use of the site, in accordance with the restrictions in the Council’s title and the intended use of the premises, and would be subject to agreement on financial terms to be assessed by the Land and Property Services Agency acting between the parties.

            It was pointed out that the land at that location had been acquired by the Council under the Will of the late William Barnett and it was likely that formal approval to any disposal would be required from the Charities Branch.

            The Committee authorised the grant of a temporary Licence Agreement to the Belfast Activity Centre to enable construction works to progress at the aforementioned site and to the grant of a 21-year lease to the Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure for an agreed site area on financial terms to be determined by the Land and Property Services Agency and subject to the incorporation of suitable terms and the completion of a legal agreement to be compiled by the Director of Legal Services.