Agenda item

(Councillor Boyle, who was not a member of the Committee, attended in connection with this item and declared an interest, in that he owned and rented out properties in the Holyland and wider University area.)

            The Head of Environmental Health provided the Committee with an update on the Strategic Study of the Holyland and wider university area, and the actions which had been taken since it was adopted by Council on 2nd April 2012.  She explained that the recommendations within the study were two-fold, namely to make Belfast a Learning City and a destination of choice for students and to restore the Holyland area of the City, by gradually reintroducing affordable, single household accommodation and improving the quality of the environment.

            She explained that an action plan had been developed as the final part of the Study and advised that 60% of those actions had been progressed since the last update in April 2014, while the remaining 40% were ongoing and made up the core work of the partner agencies.

            With regards to making Belfast a destination of choice for students, she described how a Framework for Student Housing and Purpose Built Managed Student Accommodation (PBMSA) document had been completed by the Student Housing Joint Team (DOE, DSD, BCC, NIHE and SIB) and had been launched by the Council in April 2014.  She explained that recommendations from this document were now being considered in the context of the Council’s new planning powers and Draft City Centre Regeneration and Investment Plan. 

            The Committee was advised that Queen’s University had recently launched a procurement process to secure up to 1200 bed spaces within a mile radius of their Lanyon building.  In addition a range of other student housing planning applications from various applicants had been submitted.  The challenge for Council, as the planning authority, would be to ensure that PBMSA would be developed in appropriate locations in light of the existing planning policies and plans, the emerging City Centre Regeneration and Investment Strategy and the statutory requirement to develop a Local Development Plan for Belfast in the coming years.  She highlighted to the Members that the Planning and Place Department was developing a more detailed and definitive planning document to ensure the best outcomes for the city, having regard to the recommendations of the Framework for Student Housing and that this would be brought to the Planning Committee in the coming months.

            The Head of Environmental Health explained that, with regards to restoring the functional integrity of the Holyland area, the Laganbank Partners and Communities Together (PACT) partnership had been a lead network in developing actions from the 2012 Holyland study.  She explained that an Environmental Improvement Scheme had been completed along the Embankment in November 2014, 24 alleygates had been installed across the wider university area and that a number of environmental clean-ups had taken place in the area over the past year.

            Councillor Boyle, who attended in connection with this item, declared an interest and he was invited to the table by the Chairperson to make comment.  He stated that small decorative improvements to the Holyland area, such as hanging baskets, would be welcomed by landlords and residents alike, as recent improvements had helped to improve the overall character of the area.

            The Committee noted the information which had been provided.