Agenda item

The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting held on 10th August, approval had been granted for the Council to work in partnership with Cycling Ulster to support its bid to the Whitemountain Programme to access external funding to upgrade the BMX track in Ormeau Park. The proposed upgraded track would facilitate increased usage for structured training and sports development activities and enhance the facility for general recreational use by the public.

            The Director of Neighbourhood Services advised that Cycling Ulster had submitted an application to the Whitemountain Programme, which had reverted to Cycling Ulster, seeking confirmation, before 29th October, that planning permission was not required for the upgrade works and that a formal agreement be put in place which would clearly articulate the  availability of access to the site for public recreational use.

            In terms of the planning issue, Cycling Ulster had indicated that it would provide this either through their professional advisers or through a statement from Belfast City Council Planning Office. 

            The Director detailed that, in terms of the formal agreement regarding availability, Cycling Ulster had requested that the Council would establish a Preferential Use Agreement with them, stipulating the following.

·        the opening hours of the site and the hours during which it would be available to the general public;

·        the limited number of hours during which the site would be closed to the public for Cycling Ulster preferential use;

·        the booking system which the Council would operate for Cycling Ulster use;

·        that the booking would not be required for recreational use; and

·        that the site would be open for recreational use at no charge at all other times.

            The Members were reminded that similar agreements were in place which afforded preferential use to other partner organisations.  Generally, such agreements provided either significant financial contribution to help develop the Council asset or contributed to delivering local sports development outcomes at the site.

            Several Members referred to the facility and stated that they would welcome the introduction of similar facilities across the city.  A number of other specific queries were also raised in regard to the current status of previous requests.

            The Director of City and Neighbourhood Services provided the Members with an assurance that officers would be looking at improvements across the whole of the city in terms of the Parks Estate through the Belfast Open Spaces Strategy (BOSS).  He confirmed that projects currently on the list had not been forgotten about but stated that they needed to be managed collaboratively to ensure the best use of open spaces across all areas of the city.  He also confirmed that, as with this request, where possible, external funding opportunities were identified and applied for, however, these were not always successful.

            Following a query from a Member regarding the specific request by Cycling Ulster to close the track for a limited number of hours and the potential impact that this might have on existing recreational users of the track, the Director of Neighbourhood Services suggested that the Committee grant approval ‘in principle’ to allow for a preferential agreement to be drawn up to enable the proposal to proceed, on the basis that a report be submit to a future meeting which would provide more clarity in regard to the specific request for priority use of the track.

            The Committee:

• granted approval ‘in principle’ for a preferential use agreement to be developed with Cycling Ulster in relation to the BMX track at Ormeau Park, subject to further details being submitted to a future meeting specifically in regard to the proposed priority use of the track at limited times by Cycling Ulster;
• noted that the proposal was subject to Cycling Ulster accessing external partnership funding to upgrade the existing track; and
• agreed that a report be submitted to a future meeting which would consider the provision of similar facilities across the city.