Welcome to the East Belfast homeowners coalition

Our Simple Message
We Know the Province needs new developments and new housing but that is not the issue.
The issue is redevelopment of our neighbourhoods at will, with no consultation of local residents causing communities to be dislocated; they also see their local history totally destroyed in the advancement of new developments.

We the residents are bewildered as to why elected representatives have not put a stop to it and seem to be powerless to act.

Areas are becoming more and more clogged with parked cars on roads that are just not wide enough to cope with the through traffic that is the result of new developments. Our schools are becoming more and more desolated as the new developments do not meet the needs of the communities.

New developments built are not designed for life time occupation and do not meet the needs of senior citizens, disabled communities or parents with young children.

New developments are built with high walls and gates to keep them private from the rest of the communities who live in the area yet councils are spending more and more money trying to bring communities together. New developments seem to be agreed with no regard of the impact on the surrounding area.

Local homes are being demolished only to be used as plots of land which are mainly used as fly tipping sites, whilst developers bank the land. We are increasingly mystified as to why elected representatives have not put a stop to it.
Single houses are bing demolished and replaced by apartment blocks without upgrading services such as sewer systems and flood water drainage. The infrastrcuture is struggling to cope with the increased demand.

Green spaces and trees that once were there have now gone only replaced with apartment blocks and parking spaces, the wildlife that once inhabited our areaa have disappeared. Local shops have been demolished and replaced by apartments yet the planning service fails to see the need for zoning areas for local shops. It would seem sensible that shops be replaced with mixed use developments combining retail and housing.

Our Mission Statement

• Our mission is to reach out to homeowners and local residents groups to forge links and to help establish residents associations in the East Belfast Area.
• Base our opposition to the development of inappropriate apartments on technical, environmental, and as many factual / technical fronts as possible. We may be able to do this to the point that it becomes too expensive for them to proceed.
• Have a single point of contact to coordinate political pressure. Politicians are people too, we feel they will be much more favourable to our cause if they do not have dozens of people harassing them constantly on points they have already answered for others.
• Break the workload down to organise by functions so that each area has a clear mandate and we will not duplicate our efforts.
• Speak with one voice, have a clear simple message that the media can easily understand and repeat. We will be consistent in what we say. Therefore we will limit the number of media contacts on our team.
• Base our opposition on technical issues that cause harm to our environment, schools, senior citizens, and disabled transport links that our politicians cannot dismiss, and no politician can afford to ignore.
• We will work with our business community and our churches to bring about change to outdated planning laws and help to bring about change in anti social behaviour.
• We will work for the good of East Belfast in bringing much needed grants to local areas that include private ownership housing districts.
• We will seek to have better transport links to shopping centres and shops to enable our senior citizens and our disabled communities to have better choice and more affordable produce.
• We will insist on more community involvement in decisions that may have an impact on their local areas.
• We help to set up residents groups/associations in the East Belfast Area and enrol them as members of the East Belfast Homeowners Collation. We will also give advice on how to make up a group constitution.

A Simple Message
We as homeowners have rights too. We want to live in the area we have bought into and brought up our families.
We do not want to sell up due to our areas becoming a place that we no longer recognise.
We feel that laws must change to protect the communities from property developers and speculators; we want to see our history protected.
This is not about our back yard, it is about looking after our communities and the vulnerable people who live in them. They also have rights.
Change is good when it involves everyone but when it causes segregation in communities we must not let it happen. We look to our local elected representatives to help us change the laws and the legislation and to work for meaningful change in all our communities.

The East Belfast Homeowners Collation will empower others, and influence change.