Planners to overrule NI Water objections on multiple developments, including 'aquarium-themed attraction' in Victoria Square plus two East Belfast HMOs and 44 apartments - all of which the waste firm says would causes sewer system problems
Planners in Belfast are to overrule NI Water on the city’s struggling sewer system, moving to pass developments including an ‘aquarium-themed attraction’ in Victoria Square as well as two East Belfast HMOs and 44 apartments.
The water firm has objected to all four of those projects as well as several more in the city, stating Belfast’s waste system would have difficulty coping with them.
But planners are set to give them a green light anyway, arguing NI Water had only cited general reasons not to build instead of detailed analyses of each project individually.
The firm has been very open about the pressures faced by its system around Northern Ireland’s capital city, repeatedly speaking of capacity issues and outdated processing plants and stating that overloaded sewers are contributing to severe pollution problems found in Belfast Lough.
City council planners argue they can overrule NI Water’s objections to new developments as several projects the firm approved years ago were never built, which according to officials means there’s “spare capacity” in the sewer system.
Tomorrow night a host of projects are due to appear at the council’s Planning Committee, with officials asking politicians to rubber-stamp their moves to disregard NI Water’s wishes.
They include proposals to turn two empty restaurant units in the Victoria Square shopping centre into an “aquarium-themed” visitor attraction.
A statement by architects Ostick & Williams suggests the plan would create jobs, boost footfall, “bring vibrancy to currently vacant units” and help develop Belfast’s cultural and tourism landscape.
But NI Water argue it should be blocked due to “network capacity issues” in the area that carry “significant risks of detrimental effect to the environment and detrimental impact on existing properties” – information planners want to overrule.
Other projects include creating two new Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) in east Belfast.
HMOs are single properties rented by at least three people from different households. Plans submitted would see a disused bakery on Woodstock Road and a terraced house down a side street off Newtownards Road turned into them.
Neither has proved popular with neighbours, as seven people have objected to the bakery change while 10 have objected to the terraced house move. NI Water says sewers downstream from both areas are overloaded, and want the HMOs stopped.
Meanwhile a development of 44 apartments on Clonaver Street, close to Holywood Road, is also to get a green light despite the firm’s objections.
The project is intended for a patch of ground that used to be the site of three blocks of two-storey apartments that have been demolished. The new apartments will be in four blocks, a mix of two-storey and three-storey buildings.
As with the HMOs, NI Water says the downstream sewer network is overloaded, with a risk of flooding and discharges.
With all four projects, the firm points out that “water quality in Belfast Lough is deteriorating”, adding that around 90% of bacteria and half of the nitrogen in the lough comes from NI Water’s system.
Adding in the Victoria Square attraction and the HMOs, says the firm, would “contribute to discharges” into the River Lagan, while the apartments would add to discharges into Belfast Harbour.
But planning officials maintain NI Water hasn’t “provided robust evidence” that would justify blocking the developments.