A PROPOSED development of 13 private residential apartments in South Belfast has been rejected by Belfast City Council.
The application, submitted by Diamond Belfast Ltd, consisted of one block of 11 apartments and one block of two apartments on the Ormeau Road at the corner of Shaftesbury Avenue in the Lower Ormeau.
Following a site visit in November, it was revealed there were 75 objections to the plans, including local Sinn Féin councillor John Gormley.
Many of the objections related to the lack of parking and amenities within the proposal and pressures on existing street parking.
Despite it being recommended for approval by planners, it was rejected at the Council's Planning Committee on Tuesday night.
Gerard Rice, from LORAG community group welcomed the decision.
"We had been fighting an objection to the development for months," he said.
"It was rejected on the basis of very little amenity space and just the density of the whole thing.
"The apartments were two or three-bedrooms and geared towards families but with no amenity space whatsoever.
"People wouldn't even have had a balcony. The quality of living would have been a horrible experience for them.
"The argument was that the plans were better than what is there but we need quality developments instead."
Local residents Rosemary McAllister and Sheila McKeown, whose homes would have been significantly affected by the proposed development, welcomed Tuesday’s decision as a huge relief for the local community and said that the outcome "would not have been possible" without the support of neighbours in Shaftesbury Avenue, Cooke Street and Cooke Place.
