Belfast has always been a city with a vibrant student population even in times of conflict and hardship. As the city moves into the future, students provide huge economic opportunities and the young people who study there are seen by many as the best advocates and drivers of peace and co-operation.
January has been a busy month for Belfast in terms of student property developments. Like all UK cities, Belfast is facing a growing student population that are demanding better facilities. It has to move with the times and look to the future. In Belfast, that kind of progressive thinking is probably more important than in most cities.
With that said, 2016 has been a year of good and bad news regarding how the city houses its large student population, and more importantly, where it houses them.
Queen’s University has signed a deal to develop 1,200 student accommodation places across two separate sights. The agreement has been made with the developer McAleer and Rushe. The deal will consist of two blocks of student flats to be built over two locations; one on College Avenue and the other on McClintock Street.
Planning permission is now being sought for the two sites and if all goes well the £70 million deal will be developed and completed in the summer of 2018.
However, there is local opposition in Belfast to a number of planned developments. Queen’s University recently withdrew a proposed development plan near Sans Suci Park in South Belfast due to local opposition. Other planned developments in Belfast are also facing strong local opposition, making progress and development in the city difficult.
The most prominent planning dispute is taking place near Shaftesbury Square in South Belfast. A plan for an eight storey, 150 room student accommodation block is meeting fierce local opposition for a number of reasons, some of them particularly worrying. The usual and wholly understandable reasons such as worries about noise, anti-social behaviour and impact on the local community form part of most local opposition to student developments. However, this development in this part of South Belfast is being opposed for reasons linked to Belfast’s dark and violent past.
Comparisons are being made to Holyland, an infamous student area of Belfast that has seen trouble and anti-social behaviour during St Patrick’s Day celebrations. The worry is that the new block of flats near Shaftesbury Square is located to two staunch loyalist areas – Donegal Pass and Sandy Row. Any kind of celebration on St Patrick’s Day could lead to sectarian confrontation and violence. The planned development also sits on an Orange Order marching route, which adds further complications.
Belfast City Council is meeting to decide whether to approve the plans. As the developers and residents wait, Belfast’s past continues to hinder its future.