I’ve been busy this week talking to residents regarding the proposed development of the Kings Hall site.
There has been a Pre-application Community Consultation Process Pack (‘PCCPP’) submitted for a Healthcare Park on the 16 acre King’s Hall site from Benmore Healthcare, part of Benmore Developments. Benmore are proposing a £100 million “lifestyle, leisure and well-being park”, with primary health care facilities, hotel, restaurants, for completion by 2021, behind the King’s Hall façade which is listed and will be preserved. Benmore have also promised to consult with local residents while pursuing planning permission. An image of the proposed layout, supplied by Benmore, is below.
This is possibly the largest proposed development within the South Belfast area for many years. As your local SDLP councillor I very much welcome hearing your views and I want to assure you that I will be available to represent residents’ views and obtain any further information which residents might require. I will also be liaising with the Planning Department, once the formal application is lodged, to ensure that any development is sympathetic to the
character and needs of our local community. Issues I see as important are:
Balmoral Avenue, Lisburn Road, Upper Lisburn Road, Stockman’s Lane and Harberton Park are already frequently congested during the working day and I will be seeking to ensure that the increased traffic is managed rationally, and that ample car parking is provided on site and is not over-spilled onto nearby streets.
The Transport Assessment and the impact on the public transport (bus and trains) infrastructure. The PCCPP suggests that there will be up to 50,000 GP registrations associated with the park and we will be requesting an enhancement of existing bus and train services to accommodate these.
The development will put additional demand on the existing drainage infrastructure and, as there are ongoing, localised flooding issues in parts of Malone and the Upper Lisburn Road and we need to ensure that adequate, sustainable urban drainage is planned into the site.
Existing green field sites within Belfast are precious and the old show-jumping arena within the site is a valuable amenity and, hopefully, could be preserved as a recreational facility for the increasing numbers of young families in this area.
If you have any thoughts or comments on this or any other issue, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
