PLANS for a new 3G pitch at Stranmillis College in South Belfast have been approved by Belfast City Council despite objections from local residents.
Sports facilities at the college have been branded "19th Century-style" by students who have to train on a gravel pitch — now set to be transformed by a 21st-Century 3G amenity which was first proposed almost eight years ago.
Last week, the chair of the council’s Planning Committee, DUP councillor John Hussey, gave a casting vote in favour of the proposal after there was a 50/50 split on the controversial application. The decision was affirmed at the November Council meeting on 2 November.
COUNCIL KICKABOUT ENDS IN VICTORY FOR STUDENTS: 3G pitch finally approved by Council
The proposal from Stranmillis College involves the redevelopment of an existing all-weather playing field to provide a new 3G flood-lit sports pitch, and redevelopment of former tennis courts to provide a new flood-lit multi-use games area, also known as a MUGA pitch.
The plans also included pitch-side fencing and ball-stop nets, car parking, landscaping and associated works on land including and adjacent to the existing all-weather sports pitch at the site off Stranmillis Road.
At the Planning Committee meeting, councillors heard of 116 objections to the college’s plan on a range of issues, including noise and disturbance to existing residents and "associated emotional distress".
Issues of traffic and associated noise at Cleaver Park and Clear Park were raised.
Residents also complained about the proposed floodlighting, the impact on the conservation area, listed buildings and historic parklands around the college, and the impact on flora and fauna, including protected species.
However, after years of being blocked by residents, the facility which will be shared with local schools serving economically deprived communities, councillors finally gave the project the green light thanks to the joint support of the DUP and Sinn Féin.
Objectors also stated the application “failed to provide up-to-date ecological information”.
Despite the objections, the council report stated: “The proposal would not adversely impact on amenity, traffic, heritage assets or flooding.” None of the statutory bodies consulted – including DFI Roads, the Historic Environment Division, NI Water, Rivers Agency, and Environmental Health had objections to the proposal.
Local resident, Robert Gilmer told the Planning Committee the college “has proven to be a bad neighbour”.
South Belfast SDLP MLA Matthew O’Toole supported the objectors. “Having read the proposed planning conditions, there is nothing to control how this scheme will be built and how the residents are protected from serious traffic issues,” he said.
“The restrictions imposed have caused a real problem in the ways residents can meet each other, in the way they can discuss things. There are a number of residents in Cleaver Park who are vulnerable to Covid-19 and are shielding, and that is clearly affecting their ability to engage in this proposal. They are the people most affected by it.”
A proposal by Green Councillor Áine Groogan, to defer the application for analysis of the potential effects upon the substantial badger community in the area, was voted down by the committee.
Students and staff have welcome the removal of the final planning blockage to the development. "We were being asked to train on 19th Century-style gravel pitches," said one student who asked not to be identified. "There has been a tendency to dump on Stranmillis College over recent years and to allow it to slip behind the modern facilities of other colleges. This levels things up a bit and means that Stranmillis students are no longer second-class citizens when it comes to sport amenities. We hear a lot about NIMBYism but not enough about the mental health and wellbeing of the student population."
DUP councillor David Brooks said: “There are some of us who will have great sympathy with the residents in what they are arguing. But this is a case where all the statutory consultees are coming back and saying there is no issue.
There are some of us who will have great sympathy with the residents in what they are arguing. But this is a case where all the statutory consultees are coming back and saying there is no issue.
“It is not just solely down to our opinions but also the legal standing of some of these issues. To my mind there isn’t enough for us to vote against this.”
After a vote, five councillors from the DUP and Sinn Féin voted for the proposal with five councillors against from Alliance, SDLP, Green Party and People Before Profit.
In deciding approval with the casting vote, Councillor Hussey said: “Were it not for the fact that the floodlighting issue was sorted out and Roads didn’t object, I would take a different opinion on this application, but because of those factors, I think it is unsustainable to refuse the application.”
Stranmillis College was contacted for this story but declined to comment on the planning application approval.