Agenda item

            The Committee was reminded that the Council, as part of the City Investment Strategy, had agreed to co-ordinate the acquisition of lands to enable the Connswater Community Greenway Programme to proceed.  The Council would secure rights over the land needed for the Greenway and would be responsible for the management and maintenance of that land and any assets on it.  The Greenway would have to be accessible for forty years to comply with the Big Lottery Fund letter of offer, although the intention was to secure rights for longer if possible.

            It was reported that three areas of land had been identified as being required to help complete the Greenway route and associated landscaping:

(i)   the first was an area of 0.609 acres of land at Laburnum Playing Fields off the Knock dual carriageway and Council officers had agreed, subject to the approval of the Committee and CBM Developments Board, to purchase the land at a cost of £21,500 plus professional and legal fees and to take out a Licence from the company for a temporary path and associated temporary embankment to support the path.  The proposal was for the path to remain in place until a proposed new road was constructed through the Laburnum site at which time the footpath adjacent to the new road would become the Greenway.  The proposal for the new road required both the support of the Belfast Education and Library Board and full planning approval from the Department of the Environment and at this stage there was no certainty as to whether such approval would be forthcoming within the timeframe of the Greenway Project.  The agreement would provide for the temporary route to remain in place for a minimum of forty years if the new road was not constructed/approved;

(ii)  an area of 0.036 acres of land at Loopland Court, which Council officers had agreed, subject to the Committee’s approval, to acquire from the Deramore Property Group.  There would be no cost to the Council in acquiring the land beyond the payment of reasonable expenses; and

(iii)an area of 0.622 acres of land at Holywood Arches.  The land was owned by the Department for Regional Development and was held as part of the Road Protection Corridor for the Connsbank Link and Holywood Bypass.  The Department could not dispose of those lands while the proposal for the Connsbank Link and Holywood Arches Bypass remained extant.  However, Council officers had agreed to take out a five year licence from the Department to facilitate the construction of a public square as part of the Greenway.  The Big Lottery and other funders had confirmed that they were content with that approach and could waive the usual requirement for a minimum 40 year term given the particular circumstances of that case.  The transfer of land would require expenditure of legal fees only.

            The Committee granted approval for the purchase of the three areas of land as outlined and noted that the design of the public square at Holywood Arches had still not been finalised and would require further consultation.