'These are the first shots across the bow' - Sandy Row to stage protest against development residents fear will destroy area's traditional character

Community leaders in the working class unionist part of Belfast are worried plans to build a large number of flats will wipe out Sandy Row’s traditional ethos for good.

They’ve called for houses for young families to be built instead, but fear those calls have fallen on deaf ears with the body behind the flats plan, the Housing Executive. Frustrated, they plan to stage a rally at the Hope Street site of the development on Friday afternoon.

As Billy Dickson from Blackstaff Residents Association told the News Letter, they’re settling in for what they think will be a long campaign against the flats.

“This is our first shot across the bows,” he said, “the first of many.”

Residents, he explained, want to see modern, terraced-type houses that will blend in with the existing character of Sandy Row and be suitable for young families. Current plans will see at least 60 social homes built – but the bulk of them look set to be flats, with potentially as few as six townhouses featuring in the 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”.

But Mr Dickson fears they’ll polish off a social fabric dating back 150 years on Sandy Row.

“This development is being promoted as ‘city centre’; we feel that’s annexing this site,” he said. “The proposals as they are will have no link with traditional Sandy Row; they’ll take that tradition and replace it with something new. There’s no family provision at all.”

Mr Dickson states that battles to regenerate the area have “been going on for a lifetime”, adding “it’s an absolute disgrace” that plans now don’t reflect the traditions and community of Sandy Row.

“[Years ago] the Hope Street site was cleared so that houses could be built, which despite promises never happened,” he said. “We believe those promises should be honoured now and we want to make it clear where we stand – suitable family housing, and clearly defined not as ‘city centre’ but as an integral part of Sandy Row.

“We see this as unfinished business. There have been a lot of houses knocked down, a lot of sites still vacant, and now Hope Street.

“They should have been building on that site 30 or 40 years ago. It’s very late in the day; Sandy Row has been more than petition, we should have been on the streets a long time back.”

The Housing Executive, he stated, has held “drop-in sessions” for individuals, rather than public meetings; he now hopes Friday’s 4pm protest will start to bring people of the area together to make their collective voice heard, though he says it’s likely to be a small initial rally from which a campaign can build.

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.

The Housing Executive has previously stated it is in consultation with residents.