South and East Belfast Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

The Carvill Group still have an opportunity to get their plans for Sirocco right - Ó Donnghaile

Published: 5 May, 2008

Speaking after the Carvill Group submitted their plans for the development of the former Sirocco Works site on the Short Strand, Sinn Féin's East Belfast Representative Niall Ó Donnghaile has expressed his disappointment that no mention of Social Housing has been including within those plans.

He said,

"I have been engaging with the Carvill Group for almost two years now and we have been stressing the need for community involvement within the development of the site as well as the necessity for Social Housing to be included within the development. This is an essential component for endorsement from our community."

"Sinn Féin has engaged with other concerned groups throughout East Belfast on this matter and we are committed to getting it right. At our last meeting with the Carvill Group we stressed our desire to see an acceptable degree of Social Units within the site and Carvill accepted this assertion, sadly though it is not reflected within the plans they have submitted to Planning Service."

"Allow me to make it very clear; Sinn Féin is about helping to get this project right and in order to get it right the host community cannot be excluded from the largest mixed use development in the city. No one can deny that the plans for Sirocco make for exciting and hopeful reading but what we need to see now is Carvill, the Housing Executive and the Department for Social Development working together to pro-actively tackle the housing shortage within East Belfast. Bear in mind that Sirocco is a £600 million development and it is emerging in the heart of the 9th most socio-economically deprived ward in the Six Counties."

"Therefore I would call on Margaret Ritchie to inform us what measures she will be taking to help us in securing an acceptable amount of social housing on a site that was once home to many people and families who continue to live within this area."

"It is disappointing that Sinn Féin is now compelled to object to these plans because they do not include any mention of social units. We had hoped following our previous, numerous and open engagements with the Carvill Group and indeed a number of engagements with the Housing Executive that our representations would have been taken on board. The community in East Belfast has a great stake in this site and they want to see it succeed."