September 2007 Archives

The following is a very brief potted history of the growth of this area of East Belfast, influenced heavily by the book Shipbuilders to the World: 125 Years of Harland and Wolff, Belfast 1861-1986
The expansion of the two Belfast shipyards at the turn of the 20th century accelerated the growth of the Sydenham area. It led to a rapid colonisation of Ballymacarrett. Those who colonised the area became, and many would say still are, a very self-conscious community, intensely proud of its achievement and itself.
The area was only semi urbanised, with green fields and cottages; but it contained the biggest ship yard and the biggest rope works in the world.
Other ship yards in Britain invested in housing stock for their workforce. Harland & Wolff preferred to allow private developers to build the two storey brick housing so characteristic of this part of Belfast.
Most of the people who came to work and live in this area were the sons and daughters of farming people from North Down or the Lagan valley; they knew their work and the quality of their work was second to none.
In the early 1900s the informal boundary of Ballymacarett was the railway bridge commonly known as the Holywood Arches. At the time it was something of a social as well as a geographical boundary: beyond the Arches were the houses of the wealthy, the solid Victorian villas of Sydenham and Strandtown. By the end of the century, however, colonists from Ballymacarrett were intruding on the green fields of the Holywood Road and developers were building 'parlour houses' for the accomodation of clerks and upwardly-mobile artisans.
It is interesting to note that developers of the day were sympathetic to their surroundings and many of the large villas existed side by side with workers houses well in to the late 20th century. It is sad to see that many of these fine homes have since been demolished to make room for apartment buildings which architecturally
jar with the remaining traditional housing stock.
A look at a map of our area from the late 1800s shows large homes surrounded by extensive gardens. Current day visitors to the Palmerston area are often surprised to see large detached villas surrounded by rows of red brick terraced housing, it would be a real shame for the remaining mix of housing to be lost and a corner stone of the fabric of our community removed for a short term gain.

The current station facilities at Sydenham are far removed from the luxurious station buildings of the late 1800s.
The following images show how it used to be.

The original station was the second of the intermediate stations on the Holywood branch, and was a mere stopping place, taking it's name from the townland Ballymisert. A BCDR (Belfast and County Down Railway) shareholder offered land for a permanent station in a851 and a platform was built. Suburban Belfast was developing rapidly and the more 'sophisticated' name of Sydenham waa adopted for the district. Long before the Sydenham Bypass was thought of a level crossing existed for military and later for public use during the second world war. The public used the level crossing to gain access to the Shorts' aircraft factory and the adjacent Royal Navy Aircraft yard.

The Resident's Association are determined to ensure that the small minority of our catchment area who participate in anti-social behaviour will not adversly affect the quality of life of the majority.
We have made a number of contacts with local police and the community safety wardens to ensure that we have direct contact to the relevant bodies whenever anti social behaviour is detected.
It was with great sadness that we were made aware of a recent attack on Sydenham Methodist Church.
The association will work with all the relevant bodies to ensure that these sort of attacks are stopped.
We encourage local residents to report any anti social behaviour to either the local police on 0845 600 8000 or the community safety wardens bteween the hours of 6pm - 1am Thursday to Sunday on 078 2514 6167.

The Resident's Association were asked to act on behalf of the residents of Station Rd in objecting to a change of use planning application for 28 Station Rd.
The application brief is Change of use from dwelling to apartments, refurbishment and extension of existing dwelling to provide 10 no. apartments.
To quote from the objection.
This area of Sydenham has been ravaged by development in garden plots, with a consequence that thereis now very little green space of any substantial size. The proposal would shoe-horn 10 apartments into an existing small detached house plot, removing further garden green space from the area. The entire front garden, which is currently 80% grass, would be lost and replaced with tarmac.
The images below show the front of the house and the view across the gardens in the direction of Sandringham Villas, the Grade B1 listed buildings within our catchment area.
A copy of our objection is available to those who wish to receive a copy. please email us for details.

The residents association are delighted that roaming wardens are currently working in our area from Thursday - Sunday evenings from 6pm - 1.30am. At a recent committee meeting Margaret McLarnon of Belfast City Council spoke on the role of the wardens. Further information on community safety is also available online. You can also download Margaret's presentation below. wardens.pdf If you have an issue which you think the wradens can help with, you can contact them from 6 - 1.30am Thursday - Sunday on 078 2514 6167.

The Residents Association have been in touch with Belfast City Council concerning the alleyways that are common in our area. Some of our streets have already had their alley ways gated and this small step has improved the quality of life many people. The council have provided us with a PDF outlining the Alleygating scheme.

The manual is designed to be used by individuals, community groups, voluntary and statutory organisations who are considering the use of alleygates to tackle crime, anti-social behaviour or environmental problems in the alleyways to the back of their homes.

The file is a large download (2.1Mb), the group will be receiving printed versions shortly if you would prefer a copy in printed format please contact us. Alleygating manual.pdf

The association was asked to act on behalf of the residents of Larkfield Park with regards to an application for outline planning consent for a new home on a corner site between numbers 25 & 27 Larkfield Park. The document objecting to the proposal and a petition signed by residents of the area is available on request by email from the association.

The residents association has been in contact with a number of people in the area who have had contact with more than your average garden visitor in recent times. There is at least one resident fox in the catchment area . I'm sure many people may need to check their calendars for April 1st when reading this, but there have also been reports of a resident badger population. The residents association feel that it is important to keep the exact location of these sightings a secret so we do not disturb the animals. I know that it was a surprise to me when I heard the reports but after a little more reading the sightings are perhaps not that unusual. This excellent report mentions the famous badger found sheltering in the warmth of the City hall's boiler house. The report also mentions a fox which became trapped in Castlecourt shopping centre and was captured on CCTV. So keep your eyes open, you may find more than you expect in the alleys and gardens of our area.

The residents association have just had accreditation accepted for a neighbourhood watch scheme in the Palmerston Road, Palmerston Park and Larkfield Park areas. The association is setting up a scheme to cover every street in the catchment area and are currently seeking a suitable person to act as the co-ordinator for the scheme in the Victoria Avenue area. The Neighbourhood Co-ordinator needs to be a well known and trusted member of the community and their role would be to act as a point of contact for all members of the scheme in Victoria Avenue and the residents association. If you would like to become involved, please make contact.

The r esidents association have secured TPOs on the old trees on the steep bank which marks the boundary between Palmerston Road and Denorton Park. The residents association is also working to secure orders on a number of other trees within the area.

What are TPOs?

In Northern Ireland tree preservation orders (TPOs) are made by the Department of the Environment's Planning Service and are designed to:

• protect trees which add to the character and appearance of an area
• keep and protect the structure and variety of woodland, especially where they offer protection to natural wildlife habitats
• make sure that new developments take into account the landscape setting.

A TPO prohibits the cutting down, lopping, topping or wilful destruction of trees without first obtaining permission from the Department of the Environment, unless the tree is dead, dying or has become dangerous. If someone deliberately destroys any tree which is protected by a TPO, or prunes a protected tree in a way which is likely to destroy it, they are guilty of an offence and could be fined up to £30,000. Under the Planning (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 the Planning Service can compel the replacement of trees or even replace the tree themselves and charge the offender.

The bird, animal and plant life in Sydenham is much more diverse than you would expect to find in a relatively urban area. The Palmerston area had, until recent times, large areas of rich habitat to support the varied flora and fauna. We are lucky to still have pockets of greenery and our resident bird population includes some rare species. A member of our committee, carried out a bird count in his garden over the period of a few days in Winter 2006. The following is a species count of birds which are resident in his garden, birds which flew over once were not counted, although an exception was made for the Sparrowhawk which often swoops to ground when it catches something. It should be noted that this count was in the winter months so migratory species are not included.

• blue tit
• coal tit
• great tit
• long tailed tit
• goldcrest^
• wren
• robin
• blackcap (resident)
• goldfinch
• siskin
• greenfinch
• chaffinch
• bullfinch*
• pied wagtail
• house* & tree* sparrows
• dunnock ^
• starling *
• mistle^ & song thrush*
• blackbird
• collared dove
• wood pigeon
• feral pigeon (rock dove)
• magpie
• rook
• jackdaw
• hooded crow
• carrion crow
• sparrow hawk.

An impressive count of 30 in all, 5 species are on the red list and 3 on the amber list of the RSPB. * means on the RSPB red list ^ means on the RSPB amber list. Which equates to high conservation concern and medium conservation concern