Agenda and minutes

No declarations were reported

            (Mrs. S. Wylie, Director of Health and Environmental Services, attended in connection with this item.)

            The Director of Health and Environmental Services reminded the Committee that Bombardier Aerospace had submitted a planning application for the proposed construction and operation of a combined heat and power generating station for the treatment of refuse derived fuel by gasification at the above-mentioned location.  The site in question, which was located within an established industrial area in the Belfast Harbour Estate and accessed from Airport Road, was currently undeveloped scrub land bounded by a fence.

            On 26th March, the Department of the Environment had written to the Council advising that Article 31 of the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 had been applied to the application, designating it as one of major importance as it had considered the development, if permitted, would be of significance to the whole or substantial part of Northern Ireland and it would affect an entire neighbourhood.  That notification had sought the Council’s views on the application and had stated that, before the application was determined, the Department would either cause a public inquiry to be held before the Planning Appeals Commission, or would alternatively issue to the applicant a Notice of Opinion as to how it considered the application should be decided.

            The Director concluded by informing the Committee that a technical environmental health response had already been provided to the Planning Service, however, that organisation had now sought a fuller Council response as it had determined that the application would be dealt with under Article 31.

            The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 18th April, it had agreed to invite the applicants of the aforementioned planning application to a future meeting to outline the plans in greater detail.  Accordingly, the Chairman welcomed to the meeting Mr. R. McFadden, Vice President of Operations Wing Manufacturing and Assembly, Mr. C. McBurney, Director of Plant Engineering, Ms. C. Eastwood, Environmental Manager,  and Ms. M. Ryan, Public Relations Advisor, in relation to the application.

            Mr. McFadden provided an outline of Bombardier Aerospace Belfast’s organisation and purpose.  He summarised the organisation’s investment in facilities, technologies, processes and products and explained that the demands on energy requirements and associated costs were continuing to rise.  Mr. McFadden described the proposed alternative energy project and outlined the key benefits for Bombardier and to the community.

            A range of questions were put by the Members to Mr. McFadden and the other representatives from Bombardier in relation to access to and from the proposed plant, the destination and sustainability of the waste product, the possibility of providing cheaper energy to local schools and/or community groups and the relationship between Bombardier and the consortium of local waste companies which would design, construct, own and operate the energy from waste facility.

            The Chairman thanked the representatives from Bombardier for their presentation and they then left the meeting.

            After discussion, the Members noted the information which had been provided and noted also that a draft response to the Planning Service  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

            It was reported that correspondence had been received from various statutory bodies, agencies and other organisations in respect of the undernoted:

            Notification from the Roads Service of:

·            the proposed Abandonment at Portmill Hill;

·            a Draft Order, location map and Statutory Notice of Intention in relation to the Abandonment of Public Rights of Way, The Shore Road, Belfast (Abandonment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2013;

·            the intention to amend existing On-Street Electric Vehicles Order; and

·            a Draft Order, location map and Statutory Notice of Intention in relation to the Abandonment of Public Rights of Way, The Galwally Avenue, Belfast (Abandonment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2013.

Notification from Taylor Patterson, Chartered Surveyors in relation to pre-planning application consultations for mobile phone base stations’ upgrades in various locations within the Council area.

            Copies of the letters, maps and orders relating to the above-mentioned matters were made available at the meeting for the information of the Members.

            The Committee noted the information which had been provided.

The Committee was advised that notification had been received regarding a Department of the Environment, Planning Policy Division event which would be held in the Craigavon Civic Centre on Friday, 23rd August.  It was pointed out that the event would explore the transfer of planning functions to local government and provide an overview of the key programme of work which was being implemented by the Department of the Environment, together with a draft service delivery paper as to how planning could be delivered in the new councils.  Attendance at the event would be free of charge and it was recommended that any Member who so wished be authorised to attend.

The Committee adopted the recommendation.

            It was reported that correspondence had been received from the Department of the Environment’s Strategic Planning Division seeking the Council’s views in respect of the proposed redevelopment of Casement Park to provide a 38,000 seated capacity Gaelic Athletic Association stadium.  It was reported that the Department of the Environment had applied Article 31 of the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 to the above-mentioned planning application, designating it as one of major importance, since it considered the development would, if permitted, be of significance to the whole, or a substantial part of Northern Ireland and affect an entire neighbourhood.

            The Committee was advised further that, before the application could be determined, the Department would either cause a public local inquiry to be held before the Planning Appeals Commission or issue the applicant with a Notice of Opinion indicating how it considered the application should be decided.  Accordingly, the views of the Committee had been sought in relation to these proposals.

            The Committee noted the proposals and noted further that a draft response, for the Committee’s consideration, would be submitted to a future meeting.

            The Committee was advised that correspondence, a copy of which had been circulated previously, had been received from the Deputy Divisional Roads Manager, Mr. R. Spiers, in relation to those questions which had been raised by individual Members at its meeting on 30th May.

            A Member expressed concern at the delay in the receipt of the response from the Roads Service and stated that it did not address fully, or satisfactorily, the various issues which had been raised by the Committee.  A number of Members raised again the question of egress from the rear entrance of the City Hall and the uncertainty as to which lane of traffic should have the right of way.

            The Committee noted the information which had been provided and agreed that a letter be issued to the Roads Service seeking clarification on the right of way by vehicles exiting the rear of the City Hall.

The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 7th February, it had received a deputation from residents of the Lennoxvale/Sans Souci Park area of Lower Malone in relation to their concerns regarding proposals which had been submitted by The Queen’s University of Belfast to demolish two detached properties, which were owned by the University, and to replace them with three residential blocks for students which would accommodate two hundred and forty undergraduates.

The Committee was informed that a further request had been received from the Sans Souci Residents’ Association requesting another opportunity to address the Members regarding revised plans which The Queen’s University had submitted in relation to the Lennoxvale proposal.  It was pointed out that the Planning Service had confirmed that amended plans had been received in June in respect of a reduced scheme.  However, the revised scheme had been unacceptable and The Queen’s University was considering currently the Planning Service’s comments.  The application remained under consideration and the Planning Service was unable to indicate when it would be presented to Committee.

The Committee noted the information which had been provided and agreed to receive the representatives from the Sans Souci Residents’ Association at a future meeting and that the Association be advised that the Planning Service was not in a position to indicate when the application would be brought back to Committee at this stage.

            The Committee noted a list of new planning applications which had been received by the Planning Service from 23rd July until 8th August.

A list of deferred items, which were still under consideration by the Belfast Planning Office, was noted by the Committee.

            The Committee noted a list of streamlined planning applications which had been issued by the Planning Service between 26th July and 9th August.

            The Committee considered the schedule of planning applications which had been submitted by the Divisional Planning Manager in respect of the Council area and agreed to adopt the recommendations contained therein with the exception of that referred to below: