Agenda item

            The Senior Planning officer presented the application to the Members.  She advised that the 14 social housing units were proposed to be built in three rows.

The Members were advised that the site had an area of 0.15 hectare and was located within the development limits for Belfast in both the Belfast Urban Area Plan 2001 (BUAP) and the draft Belfast Metropolitan Plan 2015 (BMAP). The site was unzoned in BUAP 2001. The northern half of the site was unzoned in draft BMAP 2004 while the southern part of the site was zoned as a shopping/commercial area, along an arterial route.

She detailed the main issues which had been considered during the assessment of the application, which included the principle of the proposal at the location, the design, layout and impact on the character and appearance of the area, impact on amenity, access, parking and transport, infrastructure capacity and impact on human health.

            The Members were advised that the site had a history of planning approvals for housing and that the development plan did not preclude housing at that location.

            The Senior Planning officer explained that the proposal followed the general pattern of development in the area. The design and layout would not create conflict and was in keeping with the local character and would not impact on environmental quality or residential amenity in accordance with PPS 7.

In terms of prospective residents, the Members were advised that each unit had an adequate outlook to the public street, and that all units were proposed to be built to a size not less than those set out Policy LC1.  It was also considered that the design, layout and separation distances proposed were acceptable and would not significantly impact on existing residential amenity by way of overlooking, dominance, loss of light or overshadowing.

The Members were advised that objections had been received from the Lower Oldpark Community Association. They had raised a number of concerns, including: parking and traffic; the proposal was at odds with the Development Plan zoning for a Commercial/Shopping area; the proposal should contain an element of retail/commercial uses; and the proposal did not respect the built context/local character of the area.  The Senior Planning officer explained that the issues had been addressed in the Case officer’s report.

In respect of the impact on parking and traffic, DfI Roads was content with the parking spaces and access provided.  She added that Rivers Agency, NI Water and Environmental Health had offered no objections.

The Members were advised that DFI Roads had offered no fundamental objections to the proposal other than the detailing of the Travel Plan offered by the applicant. DFI Roads had commented that the submitted Travel Plan should be conditioned for three years as opposed to one year. The agent had requested that the Planning officers would consider that one year was appropriate, given financial constraints.  The Travel Plan would include one Translink Travel Card per dwelling, the provision of one membership for the Belfast Bike Scheme and a 50% subsidy for one membership to a car club.

The Chairperson welcomed Mr. G. Hughes, Lower Oldpark Community Association (LOCA), to the meeting.  He advised the Members that:

·        while LOCA’s written submissions also raised issues regarding the requirement for commercial development on the site, given the time constraints, he would focus on the parking issues;

·        the proposal only included 14 car parking spaces for 14 units whereas Creating Places (Section 20) guidelines required it to include 21.25 spaces;

·        that was an inadequate level of parking provision to meet the needs of residents and visitors;

·        the fact that the properties were part of a social housing development did not provide reasonable grounds for so significantly reducing the parking provision from that required by Creating Places;

·        images of parking in the area had been submitted to the Planning Department showing the high demand for spaces even during the Covid pandemic;

·        occupants of the seven properties fronting onto the Crumlin Road would not be able to park at the front of their homes because there was no in-curtilage or layby parking;

·        between 7.00 and 9.30am, they would not be able to park on the main carriageway due to a bus lane;

·        Creating Places (Section 20.02) stated that there was a need to provide parking spaces close to and within sight of the dwellings that they intended to serve;

·        the proposal would result in competition for spaces and disputes with the residents of the new homes in Century Street and Albertville Drive;

·        in failing to provide parking immediately adjacent to the proposed houses fronting onto the Crumlin Road, the plans failed to take account of the specific needs of people with disabilities or mobility problems;

·        a significant proportion of the parking provision for the social housing development in the surrounding area was in-curtilage while the remainder was all lay-by parking at the front of properties;

·        the parking provision in this development is unassigned grouped hardstanding, something that Creating Places (11.17) sees as potentially being suitable where high densities are required, which isn’t the case with this proposed development; and

·        there was already a high level of daytime parking in the area and further development in the area, such as the old Carnegie Library Building, would increase demand further.

The Chairperson thanked Mr. Hughes for his contribution.

He then welcomed Ms. D. Lyle, agent, and Mr. D. Erskine, NB Housing, applicant, to the meeting.

Ms. Lyle advised the Members that:

·        the site was on a key arterial route, on a brownfield site, in a highly accessible location;

·        the site had been vacant for a number of years and was subject to an extant planning permission for four retail units and 34 apartments;

·        the principle of residential use on the site had been established through an extensive history of planning approvals between 2006 and 2014;

·        the retail function that could potentially exist on site had been diluted by successive permissions granted;

·        the design, scale and massing had been directly informed by the best architectural characteristics of the built form surrounding the site;

·        the heights of properties on the Crumlin Road were 2.5 to 3 storeys;

·        the design of the current proposal was stronger than that of the approved permission from 2016;

·        DFI Roads had approved the Car Parking survey, and had raised a query with the duration of the Travel Plan which had no bearing on the issues raised by LOCA;

·        NB Housing was a small scale housing association, where the scheme would be part funded by government grants, and it could not commit to a three year Travel Plan as it would render it unviable and that a one year Travel Plan was being proposed; and

·        NB Housing would manage the administration of the travel Plan through its own officers in order to keep costs down, which was deemed acceptable by Planning officers.

Mr. Erskine advised the Members that:

·        NB Housing had been established in May 2014 following the merger of two community associations;

·        it currently owned and managed 1100 social housing units, the majority of which were in north Belfast; and

·        the scheme had NIHE support, as required, and had been specifically designed to meet the waiting list requirements for the area as assessed by NIHE for a number of different applicant types with different needs to help address the housing need within North Belfast.

In response to a Member’s question regarding the Travel Plan, Mr Erskine advised the Members that current NB Housing staff would be able to manage the Plan for one year, in-house, as they did not have the finance available to cover the staffing costs for an additional member of staff to manage it over three years, as required, as the salary cost would have to be met on top of the £8,000 outlined in the report.

In relation to a query on the consultation exercise which had been carried out, Mr. Erskine advised that Housing Associations were required to consult the local community on any plans.  He confirmed that 250 leaflets were distributed in the local area and that an open evening had been held for local residents on 7th January, 2020, which LOCA had attended.

The Members of the Committee agreed to recommend that, in accordance with the Council decision of 4th May 2021, the Chief Executive would exercise her delegated authority to grant approval for the application, with the Director of Planning and Building Control to finalise the wording of conditions.