Stormont officials blank Sandy Row: Go tell the Housing Executive about your concerns the Housing Executive isn't listening, residents ordered

As the News Letter recently revealed, community leaders in the working class unionist part of Belfast fear plans to build a large number of flats will wipe out Sandy Row’s traditional ethos for good.

They’ve called for accommodation suitable for young families to be built instead, stating that couples looking to have kids are currently forced to leave the area due to a lack of suitable homes.

Feeling the body behind the flats plan, the Housing Executive, isn’t listening to their concerns and is riding roughshod over the needs of Sandy Row, residents tried to get a meeting with the man in charge of public housing all over Northern Ireland – Communities Minister Gordon Lyons.

But his officials have refused the meeting, telling residents to go to the Housing Executive instead.

Indeed, the Department for Communities insists there’s no need for the minister to hear their concerns that the Housing Executive isn’t listening, as the Housing Executive is already “engaging with the community”.

Blocking the meeting, its officials stated: “Given the Housing Executive’s lead role in the redevelopment, and their commitment to continued engagement, it is recommended [residents] liaise directly with the Housing Executive on this matter.”

Community leaders say that engagement has largely been “drop-in sessions” that allow individuals to have conversations with people from the Housing Executive, rather than public meetings at which the community as a whole could raise and debate issues facing Sandy Row.

For Billy Dickson from Blackstaff Residents Association, the Department’s refusal to hear them out means there’s no oversight of the situation.

“The entire process favours the Housing Executive,” he told the News Letter. “We believe the process needs to halted and restarted from scratch, forming a design team that will take on board residents’ concerns. The same thing has happened in other housing developments elsewhere in Belfast.

“[Years ago] the Hope Street site was cleared so that houses could be built, which despite promises never happened. We believe those promises should be honoured now.

“We want to see modern, terraced-type houses that will blend in with the existing character of Sandy Row and be suitable for young families. That’s what this area needs, and the battle to get it isn’t over.”

Current plans will see a mix of private and social housing built on a disused car park on Hope Street, close to Sandy Row itself.

At least 60 social homes will be built – but the bulk of them look set to be flats, with potentially as few as six townhouses featuring in the current vision for the scheme.

The Housing Executive maintains the Hope Street project will be “a housing-led, sustainable scheme that will integrate with its surroundings, and create vibrant connections to enhance the local economy and introduce housing choices that meet a variety of needs”.

Mr Dickson has previously argued they “pose an existential threat” to a social fabric that has endured for more than 150 years, and “represent a death knell for Sandy Row’s traditional community”.

A Department for Communities spokeswoman maintained it is “entirely appropriate” for the Housing Executive to tackle issues residents raised about its own conduct as it has “direct accountability” for the development.

Said the spokeswoman: “The department is aware of comments regarding the proposed Housing Executive development at Hope Street.

“The Housing Executive is the lead statutory body for the proposed Hope Street development and is fully responsible for both progressing the scheme and engaging with the local community.”