Agenda item

(Ms. A. Doherty, Planning and Transport Officer, attended in connection with this item)

 

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

 

“1.0     Purpose of Report or Summary of Main Issues

 

1.1       York Street Interchange

 

            To provide an update on the York Street Interchange (YSI) strategic road improvement scheme, the outcome of the Public Inquiry and the Council’s ongoing involvement in the next stages.

 

 

 

1.2       Operation times of loading bays – Belfast City Centre

 

            DfI has requested views on a proposal to relax operation times of the loading bay restrictions in the city centre with a view to reducing the existing ‘at any time’ restrictions to allow general parking in the bays in the evening / overnight.

 

2.0       Recommendations

 

2.1       The Committee is asked to:

 

·        Note the YSI update and the ongoing participation of Council officers in the process; and; 

·        Consider the proposed response to the loading bays consultation outlined in Para 3.8- 3.10 and, if appropriate, agree this response for submission to DfI.

 

3.0       Main report

 

3.1       The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) is developing the York Street Interchange strategic road improvement scheme to improve links between the Westlink, M2 and M3 routes and remove a bottleneck on the strategic network. The estimated cost of the scheme is between £125 and £165 million. The development of the scheme has been progressing since 2008 and the Council provided formal responses to public consultation processes held in June 2011 and in March 2015.

 

3.2       DfI also established a Strategic Advisory Group (SAG) in January 2015 to consider and advise on aesthetic aspects of the proposed scheme and Council officers have been represented on this group.  Council officers also made representations on key issues during a Public inquiry held from the 10th to 12th November 2015.

 

3.3       During the public inquiry Council officers made representations on the following issues:

 

·        the need for careful design to reduce the visual impact of the interchange and to enhance connectivity for pedestrians and cyclists. It was emphasised that York Street interchange scheme should secure the enhancement of the wider environment to support improved connectivity for adjacent communities and these improvements should be included in the overall project budgets.

·        Air quality - the York Street Interchange scheme has been identified as one of the principal measures to include in the new Belfast plan to improve air quality in that area. The Council agreed to carry out further monitoring in the adjoining residential areas. 

·        Noise and vibration - the need for the detailed construction programme including proposals for the chosen piling methods and hours of proposed works to be communicated and agreed with the Council well in advance of works commencing.

·        Contaminated land - the Council is broadly satisfied with the Transport NI’s management strategy towards ground contamination and towards the mitigation of risk posed by contaminated land.

 

3.4       Following the completion of the public inquiry, the Inspector’s report was published and the inspector made the following recommendations relating to Council representations:

 

·        DfI Roads to liaise with the Council throughout the remainder of the design phase and construction phase;

·        DfI Roads to consider necessary resources to incorporate design and aesthetic changes identified by the SAG group;

·        DfI Roads to continue to liaise with the Council regarding procedures for managing noise and vibration; and

·        DfI Roads to continue to liaise with the Council regarding future analytical results of any ground and hydrogeological groundwater monitoring.

 

3.5       The Department acknowledged the inspector’s recommendations and agreed to progress the project in line with the recommendations. Further information on the inspector’s recommendations and Department responses are outlined here. A summary of Council responses to the York Street Interchange scheme is outlined here.

 

3.6       As a result, the Strategic Advisory group has been reconvened with further representation invited from the local community and the first meeting took place on the 22nd September 2017. The main aim of the group is to provide a Forum to:

 

·        Consider the integration of the scheme with other government agencies and private initiatives to maximise future redevelopment opportunities;

·        Develop the detail of the aesthetics of the scheme, having regard to the scheme’s objectives, the inspectors report, the Departmental statement and feedback from local community engagement.

 

3.7       It should be noted that a letter has been received from local community representatives outlining concern about noise and the impact of the construction of the scheme on the adjoining residential areas. Council officers from the Environmental Protection Unit have agreed to meet with the residents to discuss the concerns.

 

3.8       Loading Bays

 

            The Dfi is considering relaxing operation times of the Loading Bays restrictions in the city centre with a view to reducing the existing ‘at any time’ restrictions to allow general parking in the bays in the evening / overnight. The loading bays affected are located in Wellington St, Chichester St, Fisherwick Place, Queen St, Upper Queen St, Upper Arthur St, Linenhall St and Bedford St.

 

3.9       It is proposed that the Council generally welcomes the proposal as it will provide extra capacity for residents and visitors to access the city centre in the evening and night time and support the evening economy. Car access in the off peak period would not be seen as detrimental to air quality or the city centre environment. However, it should be noted that the delivery times for the city centre are 6pm to 11am so the relaxation of the restriction could mean that cars may be parked in loading bays which are required by businesses to make evening or late night deliveries. Therefore, it is recommended that the consultation process should liaise closely with the businesses along the frontages to ensure it does not impact on deliveries.

 

3.10     It should be noted that any parking within the city centre can have negative impacts on cleansing operations in this area. Cleansing vehicles (mainly in the form of mechanical sweepers) need access to footpaths, pavements, roads and road channels and sometimes the only opportunity for them to access particular city centre areas are during night time hours. However, it is considered that the areas proposed are not significant.

 

3.11     Finance & Resource Implications

 

            None associated with this report.

 

3.12     Equality or Good Relations Implications

 

            None associated with this report.”

 

            In relation to a Member’s question regarding how the York Street Interchange would improve the air quality, the Planning and Transport Officer advised the Committee that the Interchange would remove a bottleneck in the area, thereby creating free-flowing traffic and significantly lower level of stationary vehicular exhaust fumes.

 

            A further Member welcomed the proposal from the Department for Infrastructure to relax the operation times of the loading bay restrictions in the city centre to allow general parking in the bays in the evening or overnight.

 

            Another Member requested that the Council’s response would include a suggestion that clearer signage was required in relation to the restrictions which existed in relation to vehicles parking in loading bays.

 

            It was further suggested that a number of vans were regularly parked on Ann Street on weekday mornings and that this surely had an impact on traders in the area.   The Chief Executive advised that this could be discussed with Belfast City Centre Management.

 

            After discussion, the Committee:

 

1.     noted the York Street Interchange update and the ongoing participation of Council officers in the process;

2.     agreed the proposed response to the loading bays consultation, outlined in Paragraphs 3.8 - 3.10 of the report, with the addition of a request for clearer signage outlining the parking restrictions at loading bays; and

3.     agreed its submission to the Department for Infrastructure.