the-palmerston-residents-association

The Palmerston Residents Association have been in contact with the Education Board since 20th March2008 we were informed at the time the Board intended to close the Sydenham Youth Centre, as the Centre is situated on the Palmerston Road the Association felt it should have been consulted regarding the decision of the Board,the association have always taken a stand for the Community it represents. Our Constitution is founded on the basis of  principals we will not go back on. We stand up for our Senior Citizens,our Disabled Community, our Youth,and our Ethnic Community.

The Palmerston Residents Association have always fought long and hard for the rights of the community, which is Sydenham in entirety, not as it is known by our officials as Sydenham One, Sydenham Two,and Sydenham Three, our community spreads to the whole of our community and that is Sydenham. We are proud of it and its history,  we believe  that our politicians and government founders should wake up to this, Sydenham is a community that has been ravaged by developers and by groups who act for our community who do not live here and do not see what their decisions do to our community.

We have ask the Education Board since the 20th March 2008 how it reached its EQIA under section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and how it carried out the consultation process to ensure all communities in the area had been consulted, how the information was presented to them and in what formats. Was the consultation process in accordance with the Guiding Principles set out by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, the main groups to section 75 categories Religious Belief,Political Opinion,Racial Group,Gender,Marital Status,Age,Persons with a Disability,Persons with Dependants, Sexual Orientation.

 Our community should be consulted on how a public building that has cost tax payers money to build is to be disposed off. The Education Board has a duty to the community to fully consult with them before any action is taken to dispose  or relocate a public building. We feel the Sydenham Community has not been properly consulted on this issue we have ask the Education Board many many times to hold an audit in the area, to enable them to find out what youth provision is required in the Sydenham area, and to look at groups from the disabled community, the Ethnic Community and people of different faiths. We felt that if groups where excluded it would sore up problems for our community in the long term.

The Residents Association would refer to the Education Boards letter of the 22nd July 2008 SM/CMcQ in its summary Paragraph 5, It is the view of the board that any adverse impact as a result of closure of the Sydenham Youth Facility was mitigated and therefore did not require an Equality Impact Assessment.  We would also refer the board to its response to the Palmerston Residents Association under the heading ‘Audits in the Area for Purpose of Closure’ states I am unclear what you mean by audits in the area for the purpose of closure’ I am unaware of any audits conducted in the area for the purpose of closure in these circumstances for this or any other BELB building. The original purpose of closure was to protect the health and safety of the staff and the users is a legal matter and is not an issue on which the BELB could or would consult local residents.

The Residents Association feel that if the building was closed on the grounds of health and safety to protect the staff and the users why then did it fail to disclose to the residents association what type of asbestos was in the youth centre and if it was that serious of a threat why were no hazard warning signs displayed around the outside of the building warning our community of the dangers that lay with in. We also requested in our letter to the Board 5th August 2008 to supply us with what measures have been taken to safe guard the public from entering the building and causing damage to the Asbestos.

The Residents Association has in its procession an audit that had been carried out in the area  under the heading Sydenham Youth Audit  Commissioned by East Belfast Area Youth Project and Strand Presbyterian Church. We refer to our letter of the 5th august 2008 under the heading ‘Audits’ we ask was the Boards Decision to relocate to Strand Presbyterian Church influenced by this audit. We refer to the Boards letter dated 10th October 2008 where it states the boards decision to relocate its services was explained in previous correspondence and was in no way influenced by the audit carried out by Converge.

The Residents Association feel that if any audit should have taken place it should have been screened under section 75, we feel the audit that took place for Strand Presbyterian Church should have been screened for the purpose of section 75  to make sure it had covered the main groups relevant to the section,the association feel the Education Board should have carried out an audit in the area to include all categories in section 75. The association are concerned the youth in the area who may not want to attend church will fall through the net,we feel this issue will not go away and it must be fixed before the youth in the area feel they have been sidelined.

The Residents Association meeting with the Education Board was in a response to their letter of the 10th Oct 2008 as it stated it wanted to meet with us once more. We ask  the board to carry out an audit in the area to enable it to realise what youth provision was needed in the area, we also refer to their letter of the 10th Oct 2008 where it states the youth service in Belfast,in tandem with the other four education and library boards,will shortly be advertising a new registration process as the result of an equality impact assessment of the registration and grant aid schemes.This will be an opportunity for youth groups,including section 75 groups highlighted in your letter,to register with the board with the possibility of accessing future funding. The association is pleased by this statement but it fails to put right the wrong.In not consulting the community before it relocated its youth club to Strand Presbyterian Church when it could have relocated it to mobile classrooms in the area until proper assessments under the risk of asbestos be carried out by an independent assessment by the Health and Safety Executive

The Residents Association said before the meeting that it would not discuss with the board issues we have with the board in the management of the Asbestos, and why they deemed this building surplus to requirements due to the health and safety issues when other youth clubs have been upgraded.  Health and safety issues in another building cost the board for security because it was damaged by fire and was deemed to be demolished, but then reprieved for further assessment. We can assure the board that we do not intend to let the issue drop until youth provision in the Sydenham area is audited  under section 75 to include all groups who live in our community. We  would also ask if the board carried out an audit in the area that covers all these groups would you please produce it to enable the residents association to close this issue.

The Palmerston Residents Association with Its Chairman, Vice Chairman, Youth Worker, Drink and Drugs awareness worker and the representative of the East Belfast Community Development Agency, met with the Assistant Senior Education Officer (Youth)on Friday 17 Oct 2008 the meeting was to establish the views of the Education Board in regard to Youth Provision in Sydenham East Belfast.

 We wanted to raise with him the Associations concerns that an audit in the area would need to be carried out to establish the needs of the youth in the area. We also raised concerns regarding suicide in the area and the lack of facilities that are now in the area for youth who slip through the net of the local churches known as detached Youth.

The Association has felt for some time now that the need to try and give the youth in the area a sense of  belonging in the community was needed, to help them restore confidence in the area and to try and bring about change of attitudes in the local youth. We have felt for some time that the youth provision in the area was none existent or that it is so much out dated that the local youth cannot identify with it.

The association believes that an audit should have been carried out in the area to establish the needs of the youth in the area, and also establish the feelings of the youth regarding the use of  local church as a venue for a youth club, the  disabled and mental health community would also have to be taken into account where  programs would  have to be improved to meet their needs. 

We have felt for some time that if we want to have full inclusion of all the youth in the area it would have to be carried out under section 75, equality screening to enable the Education Board to reach the different nationalities that are now living in the area, also the disabled community and people suffering from mental health issue. We feel this would be the only way the Education Board could identify the needs of the area.

The Association attended this meeting to raise its concerns with the Education Board and attempt work with the Education Board to bring about change in the Sydenham area. We as an association felt that the Education Board would have been interested in our local youth and the problems they have, we assumed they would have been interested in finding out any problems they were having and work with the association on how they could be solved.

The association felt the Education Board would have been interested resolving the issue of an audit in the area and become aware of the needs of our community, some of which are disabilities, suicide and mental health. I as Chairman of the Residents Association have attended countless meetings with MLA’s and other official bodies, and I have never experienced such a lack of interest as I found in the Education Board. In fact we had to remind the Youth officer that it was our children and other peoples children that we were talking about.

If this education officer represents the official thinking of the Education Board and represents the face of the Education Board then we are in serious trouble and the youth are in even bigger trouble. We now ask the Education Board to review the training of their officers in how to conduct themselves at a meeting of concerned residents. We would also question the training of the officer in attendance at the residents meeting he failed in many ways to grasp what the meeting was about or how to resolve issues that were raised,we would strongly advise the Education Board to issue this officer the basic tree structure of the board to give him some idea where the different departments are managed and who directs them.

The association is sorry to say that because of how the officer conducted himself at this meeting and the lack of respect he held for our community and its views, we felt there was no other action we could take but to close the meeting with the officer, we are sorry we had to take this action but we felt there was no alternative.             

Dear Minister and Chief Executive

The Palmerston Residents Association has been in contact with you and your department for some months we have been asking for answers to questions that I feel are very important. We require answers to why Asbestos was used in the Building of the Youth Centre on the Palmerston Road Sydenham Belfast.

 We also requested copies of the minutes of meetings that had taken place over a two year period with other groups to enable us to have a grasp of the feelings of the participants involved in the meeting at that time.We have also stated from our first contact with the board that a proper audit be carried out in the whole area of Sydenham and Ashmount area, to involve every household to enable the Education Board to gauge what Youth provision was needed in the area and what type of youth provision was required.

The Education board has continually said they felt there was no need for an audit in the area I as chairman of the residents association totally disagree with the Board. I feel that as the Board held talks for two years on a major issue as moving or shutting down a facility such as the Youth Hall the first thing that should have taken place was to ask the community and seek a wide range of expression in the area.

We have said from our first contact that the need for an audit was vital purely because the facility is the only neutral   building in the area apart from Inverary Community Centre that is booked out most time, the need for the Youth Club In the area is vital for the younger generation of all communities in the area and is vital to the growth of the Sydenham and the Ashmount areas, the board in its attitude to the audit is totally flawed as it seems to feel it has no need to find out what people who live in the area want. The board fails to recognise the changing  population in Northern Ireland and the need to be fully inclusive of all communities and the needs of the disabled communities in the area.

I as chairman ask the Education Board to think again on this Youth Hall the need for it in our area is vital to enable the community youth have a place they can go to and claim as their own. The need for youth workers in the area is also vital to help our young community deal with the pressures it is under in our way of life today,never has young people in Northern Ireland needed such a facility as now.  We see other parts of the UK spending millions of pounds on it youth through Play England and Play London the government has recognised the need for our young people to have places for play and recreation.  If we want to tackle the problems that our younger generation have to face today.

I look at other parts of the UK that I have lived in and how the youth is provided for and it makes me feel disgusted

In other parts of the UK young people attend rock concerts, make records, skate board centres and adventure playgrounds. In other parts of the UK they have not had to tackle thirty six years of violence yet our young people are at the end of the line when it comes to youth provision, we see our young people committing suicide  because of the baggage they carry around with them, reports show East Belfast is becoming one of the highest places for suicide. The DSD has deemed it an area at risk.

I also know our mental health services are stretched to bursting as it has been under funded for years, I have seen our younger community trying to deal with mental health problems like never before, they have so many problems to deal with yet they are the ones that are forgotten in Northern Ireland. We spend millions on public enquiries, but find it hard to fund mental health for our youth.

I ask you the Minister of Education and The Chief Executive to rethink your plans on the Sydenham Youth Club and give it back to the young people of the area, if the Board has sold it buy it back then hold an audit in the area and find out what the young people in the area really want, show us that the Education Board  has vision and they are looking to the future and not having tunnel vision in the needs of our young community.

The Sydenham Youth Club has not been in use for over two years it is falling into disrepair, the Board say it is because the building has asbestos in it, then take your opportunity to answer our letter to you and clear up the points we have raised,  all we ask from you are answers as to why our young peoples Youth Club lies closed, when other parts of the UK are spending millions for youth provision yet the Board decides that it would cost too much to  refurbish it and bring it to a standard where disabled people could also use it. I feel this is a nonsense as the building is approximately twenty years old.  How could this be right how can you put a price on the future of the youth in the area? 

Terry Hoey

Chairman Palmerston Residents Association    

The Palmerston Residents Association intends to call a public meeting after it consults with its executive committee this month the association has been in contact with the Education Minister for Northern Ireland and the Ministers Officials and Chief Executive at their Belfast Headquarters 40 Academy Street Belfast. The Chairman of the Residents Association is intending to call this meeting due to the lack of a response to its letter to the board of the 5th August when it raised concerns regarding Health and Safety issues at the Sydenham youth centre Palmerston Road.  We would ask all interested parties who wish to attend  this public meeting to please contact us by email at campaigns@palmerston-residents-association.org or by fax to 02890200988

The Palmerston Residents Association has fought long and hard to protect our environment we have saved many trees from destruction. We are looking at three photographs of the path up to the swimming baths that one time stood in all its glory, back then Victoria Park was the only park to have an outside swimming baths in Belfast. Many visitors came from all over Northern Ireland just to try the pool out, our first photograph shows the pathway looking down from the pool as you can see it is now covered with trees and undergrowth, although the view was not always like this there was a lawn and flower beds with a grass bank. It was kept that way because of the airfield and it also gave the park its own sun trap where people young and old would sunbathe. The park in those days was a community park for all the family and young mothers, you would have seen lots of children playing on the grass while their mums where having a picnic on the bank after visiting the swimming pool. Our second photograph shows the other side of the bank where you would have seen young people playing football and cricket this all added to the community feeling the park contributed to the area. The opposing teams at football and cricket made up from different areas of Sydenham all added to the atmosphere of a community. Our third photograph shows the remains of the outdoor swimming pool wall where so many families came for a day out of swimming and picnics. As our photographs show the planting of trees along the pathway and the other side of the bank has removed the community feel to this great park. We feel the council had no plan at all on how to build or upgrade a community park, in the planting of trees it failed to see how it would break up the community feeling the park once had.We see by the planting they would have achieved so much more by including many more species of trees more sympathetic planting would not have caused the problems the council now has, where  trees have to be lopped all the time to stop them from interfering with the flight path of the airport. We look at the park and see just how many family and community projects that could take place in the park ,you would have thought we would have had a much more improved park with areas for fun where children could come and play and meet other children. What about an adventure playground and a skateboard facility,the council seems to have lost its way in Victoria Park and missed a great opportunity to help the young people of the area.  The council has failed to involve the community in its planning of the park and include the needs of everyone young and old.  They need  to think about where the park is situated in East Belfast and why the park was built in the first place you would think that Harland And Wolff and Short Brothers and Harland would have given them a clue. The park was built for East Belfast to give its workers and their family’s of the great industries some where they could go and relax and enjoy themselves. The council seems to have missed that vital point,Sydenham is classed as an area at risk it has jumped to this position and is now as bad as it was in  North and West Belfast. The Sydenham Area suffers from Anti Social Behaviour, Ill Health,Mental Illness,and Suicide in our young population. The deterioration of Victoria Park has taken a vital link away from our community the council must see that if they close down areas in the park it drives the young people into the streets and then into antisocial behaviour.

We ask you to read our next issue DAY 5

The Residents Association Has Been fighting for sometime to save the Sydenham Youth Hall we ask you to follow our story  on the issues we have uncovered            

Our photographs show the Band Stand, the Children’s Play Park and what remains of the Boat House, we must ask why these facilities have been let run down at a time when anti social behaviour is ripe on our street. We hear quite often that our park was used as a drinking den and our young people destroyed it. Victoria Park has been there for many years and in its later life it had more facilities than it has today we see that our park is not very family orientated it has no toilets the Band Stand is always closed and I cannot remember when a band ever played there.  Our second photograph shows a children’s play area but as you can see from our photograph it is not very inspiring or even adventurous enough to keep our children amused for any length of time, we see in our third photograph the remains of what was the boat house that was demolished only a few years ago. We must ask the council why this is happening and why its removing facilities from this great park or has it got another agenda? The Residents Association has been active trying to convince our MLA’s and our councillors just how great an asset this park is to East Belfast, but our words seem to be falling on deaf ears. We see rate payers money being used to build facilities in the park only to be demolished or to have so many restrictions put on them that it becomes not viable for community groups to use.  Yet our councillors do not seem to realise that if the communities are to tackle anti social behaviour we need parks like Victoria Park for our young people to use. So we must ask again Who Is The Real Friend Of Victoria Park and the Community Who Use It?  

These are the latest photographs taken by Palmerston Residents Association of Victoria Park and the state of decline it is in. We can see from the first two photographs how the island has washed away with out repair and how the trees on the island are being let fall into the lake because the banks are not being rebuilt.
We can also see in our photographs how the lake is allowed to be infested by rubbish and plastic bags which may result in a hazard to one of our children who may try and remove this bike that looks as though it was dumped sometime ago. Once more the Residents Association has had to come to the aid of this great park.
We ask our councillors how can we gain respect from our younger generation  when they see how our council looks after one of our most valuable assets. We hear a lot about our young people and anti social behaviour yet the council lets this happen to one of their historical sites.
How can we expect our young people to have a sense of pride for the park when the council lets it fall into disrepair and locks everything. Every human being uses a toilet we ask who is the real friend of Victoria Park is it the Airport or the Council follow our articles every day this week and we will let you know

The Palmerston Residents Association can report the Council has once more closed the gate to half open as our photograph shows.
This photograph was taken on the 28th September 2008, we had hoped that the Council had at last removed the bar to make access through the gate for the disabled and young mothers with prams much easier.
We can confirm that the Council did open the gate to its full extent until a couple of weeks ago once more we have to ask the question who is the real friend of Victoria Park.
The Council restricts the community the full use of the park and makes it difficult for young mothers with prams and the disabled the right of entry to the Public Park by blocking the gate half open. we can also confirm that the toilet block has now been closed for approximately 13 years and is still locked to the public, even though an offical spoke to the chairmam of the Residents Association in June this year. At the time he stated he would try and do somthing to have the toilets opened but it was all down to the cost of having them cleaned that may stop them from being opened.
We ask the Council what price do they put on our childrens lives when parents  have to let their children go to the toilet in the bushes. We have to ask them do they care about our disabled and senior Citizens who also cannot have the use of the toilets.

These are the names of only a few of the brave men who served voluntarily in the 1914 to 1915 war for King and Country.  The Roll of  Honour shows the names of the sons of one of our great industrialist William Holmes Smiles of Westbank House on the Palmerston Road Sydenham Belfast Northern Ireland. William Holmes Smiles And Gustav Wilhelm Wolff Founded one of the biggest companies in the World The Belfast Rope Works in East Belfast, yet these two men who give so much to Northern Ireland are not Commemorated  anywhere in East Belfast. Gustav Wilhelm Wolff one of the the Founder members With Sir Edward Harland founded the Belfast Shipyard one of the Largest in the World yet these two men are not Commemorated anywhere in East Belfast the home of the Belfast Shipyard and the Belfast Rope Works.  Would it not be fitting to have Gustav Wilhelm Wolff and William Holmes Smiles Commemorated at the sites where they both lived in East Belfast Gustav Wolff The Den Station Road, and William Smiles Palmerston Road. It is a very sad sight to see the sons of William Holmes Smiles on the roll of honour yet know one knows  know their history. We must let them know just how great Northern Ireland was and how many great men actually lived here and who they were and what they did to improve so many lives for the people of Northern Ireland 

The Chairman Terry Hoey

The Palmerston Residents Association Smiles And Wolff Campaign

The Palmerston Residents Association say thank you to Northern Ireland Railways in agreeing to let the association erect one of their community notice boards at Sydenham Station Halt, and also to the association taking care of the station. The Residents Association have always been keen to look after Sydenham Station as we feel it is the shop window to Sydenham, we want to show our visitors that Sydenham is a pleasant place to live and a nice place to visit. We intend to plant flowers and in the summer months put up hanging baskets, we hope to make the station much more appealing to the members of the public that use the station to commute to work helping both Northern Ireland Railway and the Palmerston Residents Association get more commuters out of their cars and on to public transport. The residents association feels if the community look after their own station it will give them pride in having a show station on their doorsteps.  The Residents Association want the commuters to stop and visit Sydenham as it has a lot of places to see, including The Den Station Road where  Gustav Wilhelm Wolff once lived and the Smiles Family Home Westbank House that use to stand on the Palmerston Road. You can also see the tree lined hill that was known as Bunkers Hill named after the Battle of Bunkers Hill in the American Civil War, we also have the home of Stewart James Parker the play write, you can also visit St Marks Church and see where CS Lewis attended Church, we also have some great parks in the area including Victoria Park one of the oldest parks in Belfast all within walking distance of Sydenham Station. we have several Churches in the area that always have something going on. The Sydenham Methodist Church which stands at the corner of Station Road and Palmerston Road, the Salvation Army Headquarters stands just on the other side of the road from the Sydenham Methodist Church, if you walk a little bit further you will see the Church of Ireland on the Larkfield Road and St Marks Church on the Holywood Road. Alternately if you feel you would like to see what is going on in the community you can call at the Inverary Community Centre on Inverary Drive where there is something good taking place every day. Maybe you just want a quite walk so why not try the Tommy Patton Memorial Park. Sydenham is a great place to visit with lots to see, the Palmerston Residents Association take a pride in the history of the area and are proud to show it off. We hope to be including shortly to our attractions our community allotments, and if permission is given by the Belfast City Council its very first Farmers Market to be held in the grounds of the Church of Ireland on the Larkfield Road.  Once again we thank all the people who are supporting us, and the backing we have been given on a few of our projects including the tree protection orders on the trees at Bunkers Hill on the Palmerston Road. The spot listing of the Gustav Wolff Cottages at The Den Station Road and the support we have raised for a commemoration for The Smiles Family on The Palmerston Road, also Northern Ireland Railways for agreeing to help our community even further by showing the community that it respects all that it is trying to achieve by letting us take care of our visitors and making Sydenham Station one of the prime stations on the Network