Northern Ireland

New homes in nationalist area of north Belfast welcomed

New homes are set to be built at a site near Clifton Street Orange Hall in north Belfast
New homes are set to be built at a site near Clifton Street Orange Hall in north Belfast New homes are set to be built at a site near Clifton Street Orange Hall in north Belfast

THE Housing Executive has been urged to pursue the acquisition of other sites in north Belfast after planning permission was granted for new homes on a derelict site.

Planners at Belfast City Council gave the proposed development at Carrick Hill in north Belfast the green light last week.

Six apartments and four houses will now be built by Choice Housing Ireland just yards from Clifton Street Orange Hall.

The properties will be the first built in the nationalist area fronting Clifton Street, which has been a parades flashpoint since 2012.

Similar plans for the site were submitted and subsequently withdrawn in 2014.

It later emerged that former DUP housing minister Nelson McCausland met housing association representatives at Clifton Street Orange Hall weeks before the plan was withdrawn.

It is believed he was joined at the meeting with officials from the now defunct Oaklee Homes by North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds and Belfast councillor Brian Kingston.

At the time the DUP said party representatives held “meetings with statutory agencies and groups on issues relating to their constituency” and this was a “normal” part of their work.

It later emerged that plans to build on the site were withdrawn because of a directive by the DUP-run Department for Social Development which produced documents in 2013 stating that any developments fronting Clifton Street should be non-residential.

The planning approval was welcomed by Sinn Féin councillor JJ Magee last night.

“I would also urge the Housing Executive to pursue the acquisition of other sites as there are 36,000 people on the waiting list, 24,000 in acute housing stress and 12,000 of those in Belfast,” he said.

He said his party “will also continue to work with the Housing Executive and other relevant authorities to ensure more homes are built to meet the demand in north Belfast and across the north”.

Alliance Party councillor Nuala McAllister raised concerns about labelling houses as nationalist or unionist and added that the housing shortage in north Belfast needs to be tackled.

“The development of these homes themselves is a welcome move and I look forward to more in future,” she said.

“We need to alleviate the shortage problems we are seeing in north Belfast and remember at the heart of this are people seeking homes, no matter what section of the community they are from.”

A spokesman for the Orange Order said it had “no comment at this stage”.