Agenda item

            The Case officer provided the Committee with the key aspects of the proposal at Kings Works.

            He outlined to the Members the key issues which had been considered in the assessment of the proposed scheme, including the acceptability of a storage and distribution facility on the site, scale, massing and design, the impact on built and archaeological heritage, contaminated land, flooding and traffic and parking.

            He advised the Committee that the site was located within an established industrial area within the wider Titanic Quarter, which formed part of the mixed use Titanic Quarter zoning.  He outlined that the proposed storage and distribution use was appropriate to the area.  The Members were advised that the main distribution building was smaller than the existing industrial building on the site by approximately 3,000m² and by approximately 1metre in height and would subsequently have no greater impact on the setting of nearby listed structures and monuments.

            The Case officer advised the Committee that, given the scale of the existing building on the site and its potential to accommodate an industrial use, together with consideration of the applicant’s Transport Assessment, it was considered that on balance there would not be harmful impact on existing road infrastructure.

            The Committee was advised that DAERA, DFI Roads, Rivers Agency, NI Water and the Health and Safety Executive had no objection to the proposals.  The Case officer outlined that a response was still outstanding from the Belfast Harbour Commissioners.  He advised the Members that, as detailed in the Late Items pack, Environmental Health had responded with a number of conditions.  He explained that, in the event of an approval, the conditions would be added to the decision notice.

            The Case officer advised the Committee that no third party objections had been received.            

            The Chairperson welcomed Mr. B. Kelly, Turley, and Mr. C. O’Hara, Technical Director at RPS, to the meeting.  They welcomed the Planning Department’s recommendation to approve the application.  They reiterated that no objections had been received and that the proposal would bring new employment opportunities to the area.  They advised the Committee that a robust traffic assessment had taken place as part of the application.

            A Member stated that, as the plans were for a base for delivery vehicles, she was uncomfortable making a decision given that the Committee did not have access to a key document which was referenced in the report.  She explained that the Committee was being informed that DFI Roads had no objections but that their opinion appeared to have substantially changed based on information which the Committee had not been provided with.  She stated that the most recent document which was available to Members, with regards to DfI Roads’ opinion on the application, was August 2019. 

            The Chairperson advised the Committee that Mr. L. Walsh, Department for Infrastructure, was in attendance and he was welcomed to the meeting.  Mr Walsh confirmed that DFI Roads did have initial concerns about the transport assessment which had been submitted by the applicant. He explained to the Members that they challenged a number of the assumptions, such as the arrival and departure profile, the number of trips generated on the site and the modal split.  He advised the Committee that DFI Roads had gone through a rigorous challenge of the application, including worst case scenario testing and modelling.  He confirmed that, in response to a recent Technical Note from RPS, DFI Roads now considered the application to be acceptable.

            In response to a Member’s question, the Case officer explained that he would need to confirm whether the document referenced had been uploaded onto the Planning Portal.

            After further discussion, the Committee agreed to defer consideration of the application to Thursday, 14th November, to allow the Technical Note from RPS to be uploaded.

(Councillors Hussey and McKeown returned to the meeting at this point)