New Sandy Row focus group to 'save what's left of traditional community' as embattled traders and residents struggle on
A new Sandy Row body is leaping into action in a bid to “save what’s left” for struggling traders and residents.
The Sandy Row District Community Focus Group met for the first time on Wednesday night (26th), agreeing to fight for the future of an area they feel has been left behind by indifferent authorities.
Describing the current state of a Sandy Row as a “critical situation”, the group say they want to press for a major overhaul of the area including the addition of hundreds of new social homes – and they specify they mean houses, not apartments.
Secretary for the new body, Paul McCann, says what little social housing is on the cards for the area mostly isn’t aimed at families, forcing younger generations to move away from the community they’ve grown up in.
“Landlords are putting rents up, but social housing isn’t there,” he told the News Letter. “Young families have to look to other areas – we’re being broken up.
“The Housing Executive told me we have 200 families on the list for new housing, which they say isn’t enough [for a major family-focused development].
“I’ve been going door-to-door and already have 400 families on a list who want social homes here, and there’ll be more to come. Today the focus group set up a meeting with the Housing Executive, at which we’ll give them that list and show them how high the demand is.”
Sandy Row has frequently hit the headlines in recent months due to the struggles of local businesses, whose trade has been decimated since the Boyne Bridge – a main route into and out of the area – was closed for demolition as part of Belfast’s new Grand Central Station.
Paul knows that only too well. Last year he owned two businesses but was forced to shutter one of his ventures, a sweet shop, due to the collapse in passing trade.
"By the end of the year, I was paying the wages for one business with the takings from the other,” he says. “It couldn’t go on, especially not over January and February when footfall drops anyway.”
The focus group are eager to do what they can for traders in the current circumstances, as well as campaigning to sort out the area’s long-running housing issues.
In addition, the focus group wants to organise and promote activities that will benefit “residents and all stakeholders within the wider Sandy Row community”, as well as encouraging their own members to get involved in voluntary work.
They’re also keen to promote Sandy Row’s cultural and historical significance by setting up walking tours, street art, publications, lectures and concerts.
Future plans include acting as a liaison between the area’s community and government departments, the local council and other authorities on proposed schemes for that part of Belfast.
They also want to provide residents with regular updates on planning applications and help put together community responses to projects, as well as lobbying local politicians on issues of community concern.
Wednesday night’s inaugural meeting mainly involved setting the essential foundations for the focus group, such as electing a committee and deciding on a formal constitution – but its members are already getting their on-the-ground campaigns going.