Heritage Under Threat – Cromac Street Shops – Verner Street
Cromac Street Shops
An application was recently made to Council to demolish the old Cromac Street shop buildings. Fortunately the application was invalidated due to a technicality – you cannot apply to demolish a building in a conservation area without first presenting an alternative.
These buildings are a priceless part of our built, industrial and social history, and residents would be loath to see any further neglect to them, and will completely oppose any future plan to demolish them. We will work to ensure that the buildings are not only preserved, but restored and brought back into community use as a vibrant social hub as they had been for generations of Market people.
Verner Street
Verner Street: Habinteg Housing are proposing to demolish the old Ormeau Centre (i.e. the hostel) building on Verner Street and to develop 15 social housing units and office space on the site. While we welcome and campaign strongly for more housing in the area, a number of concerns have been raised about the substandard nature of this proposal, particularly in relation to:
Small size of the apartments, which fall below expected standards
Lack of sunlight and amenity space within the apartments
Destruction of built heritage Fire safety concerns
Lack of community consultation
Habinteg have given a commitment to engage with the community and we hope that
through this, and a public event for residents, all the concerns raised so far can be
addressed.
