Belfast City Council has agreed to an urgent meeting with residents in Lisnasharragh over potential antisocial behaviour following its decision to open a gate into a popular public playing field.
The council recently agreed to re-open an entrance gate into Cherryvale Playing Fields from Knockbreda Road in South Belfast, after holding a public consultation which saw nearly 90% of respondents agree to the measure. The gate has been closed for over 20 years, due to former concerns about antisocial behaviour.
It has been five years since a council motion by Alliance Councillor Michael Long looked into reopening the gate, but the saga is not entirely over. Another consultation among those living closest to the gate found that 60% were against reopening the gate while 40% were in favour, with the main concern being an increase in antisocial behaviour.
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At last month’s meeting of the council’s People and Communities Committee, council officers explained that a full set of measures to mitigate the ASB risk, involving CCTV, security lights, extra fencing and bins would cost up to £91,000 in total. Sinn Féin said this expenditure could not be justified, and the SDLP agreed, given that Cherryvale had the best record for antisocial behaviour of all Belfast Parks.
The committee agreed to open the gate while continuing conversations with nearby residents as to how to implement mitigation against potential antisocial behaviour. This decision will be subject to the completion of an equality and rural needs assessment. A pedestrian crossing beside the gate, to be provided by Stormont, awaits a positive decision from the council on the gate reopening.
The full council last week agreed to Councillor Michael Long’s proposal that residents would be invited to a meeting with all of Lisnasharragh’s Belfast councillors “to agree the final remedial measures against any antisocial behaviour” with a view to opening the gate in the coming months.
SDLP Councillor Séamas de Faoite, who proposed the reopening of the gate, said at the full council meeting: “There was no indication whatsoever or suggestion that we would exclude residents from this conversation, and that has been the case from the very start.
“Concerns were raised by myself and (Sinn Féin) Councillor Matt Garrett, and others, that there were issues around some of the proposals made to tackle issues around antisocial behaviour. And the overall cost we were being quoted was beyond the realms of what we wanted to see address the residents' concerns.”
He added: “I will repeat that I am quite proud that Cherryvale has one of the lowest antisocial behaviour profiles of any property that this council owns and maintains, and it is one of the parks and green spaces that people take a great deal of pride in, whether it's the local sporting teams that use the facility, or local residents. In particular, residents from the Rosetta and Wynchurch areas.”
He said: “But I can’t stand in this chamber or anywhere else and justify the suggestion that we spend £58,000 on a lighting system for one gate. I think that is totally out of proportion to what we are trying to do here, which is to open up green space and make it accessible for people right throughout Rosetta.
“We need to make sure we are, quite frankly, not making a mountain out of a molehill - this is a gate into a park, a park with the lowest antisocial profile of any one of our properties.
“And we need to see movement from the (Stormont) Department of Infrastructure, who came in and said they had some communication from residents who were opposed to the installation of a pedestrian crossing beside the gate, despite the fact it is direly needed, and the vast majority of residents are in support of this piece of infrastructure.
“We need to get the department on that site, get that crossing delivered, make it happen so we can finally get this over and done with. And then all the councillors in this chamber will be delighted that Lisnasharragh councillors will have one less thing to talk about in regards to Cherryvale.”
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