COUNCILLOR Stevie Corr has welcomed the draft plans for the old St Thomas’ Belfast Met site on the Whiterock Road which has now moved to the consultation stage by the developers.
The planned redevelopment will include a mix of social and affordable homes including 26 houses and 59 apartments. This will be the first purpose mixed tenure of homes in the Whiterock and Ballymurphy area.
"Almost a decade ago now, we set out on a regeneration programme for the Greater Ballymurphy and Whiterock areas," he said.
"We identified major gaps within this area and were determined to change the direction of travel for this community. Working with local schools, youth clubs, sporting organisations and residents, we have delivered the biggest ever sustained injection of resources and facilities into this area.
"That includes house upgrades, 3G pitches, grass pitches, playgrounds, environmental upgrades, educational facilities, traffic calming measures, and the new homes in St Bernadette's and O’Neill’s Lane. The Falls Park and the City Cemetery have never seen as much investment and the area is in a good place.
"One last piece of that regeneration jigsaw is the old site at BMet. Existing tenants on the site are the Corpus Christi Youth Club, the Corpus Christi ABC and the Whiterock Children’s Centre.
"The Youth Club has undergone massive investment recently and we hope also to get a major upgrade for the boxing club also."
Cllr Corr said the these existing facilities will remain and will be central consultees.
"There are also plans to build a new Children’s Centre closer to the front of the Whiterock Road and demolish the existing one. The site is also bounded by the local bunscoil and St John’s GAC," he continued.
"That leaves the rest of the site which has been bought by Newpark Homes. They have revealed exciting plans for the site and we want people’s views on the plans. This is the last site for housing in our area, and if the last decade has taught us anything, it's that this is a strong, resilient and proud community and people want to live here.
"They want to grow up here, raise families here and ultimately to spend their golden years in a place they call home. We need to be smart and imaginative about what this means to our housing stock in the area. We want to create a cradle to the grave housing provision model.
"This needs to include new affordable homes for people who work and, who because of the points and allocation system around social housing, will never be allocated the said social houses.
"We need to look at providing for everyone in our community and incentivise people to stay. We need to look at the rents of Housing Association houses which, if you are working, can cost more than a mortgage.
"A mixed tenure of homes is the goal here. We hope that we will have this approach in these homes at St Thomas’s once they are built."
Cllr Corr added that we also need to accept that some people may want an apartment and that modern living and demographic changes mean that apartments may suit some of older residents who may not want the hassle of a garden; but also accept that some love their gardens and want a house.
"There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to housing and housing need," he said.
"We will be encouraging local people to voice their views when the consultation process opens fully and to think what they would like to see on this last brown field site in our area and future proof our housing and let's start with a real housing-led regeneration programme for this area as set out in the Belfast City Council’s strategic vision for the city in the Belfast Agenda."
