Belfast City Council's Planning Committee has granted permission to a number of new schemes across the city, including the next stage of the Rapid Transit scheme.

At a meeting on Tuesday, 14 February, the Committee granted permission for a new Rapid Transit Hub and engineering works at Duncrue Street.

The Committee also approved the expansion of the Blacks Road Park-and-Ride facility, with 307 additional temporary spaces to be provided.

A new city centre office block and a superstore in east Belfast were also given a green light at the meeting.

The eight-storey office development is located on Chichester Street, between Arthur Street and Montgomery Street, and on completion will provide almost 9,300 square metres of office and retail space.

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Planning permission was also granted for the amalgamation of three units at Connswater Retail Park to provide a new single 1,550 square metre unit, which will house a new branch of Home Bargains, in a £1 million investment creating 45 to 65 new jobs.

Two new social housing developments were approved, which include 24 semi-detached dwellings and six complex needs bungalows on the site of the former Lisnasharragh High School in east Belfast, being developed by Clanmil. Habinteg Housing Association received permission for 10 new apartments on the Whitewell Road in the north of the city.

Two new private apartment complexes – at Kennedy Way and Blacks Road – were also approved, as was a new pre-delivery inspection centre at the Isaac Agnew Mercedes dealership on Sydenham Road.

The decisions were among 20 applications considered by the Planning Committee, which heard that 156 other decisions had been issued during the month of January. This was an increase of 32% compared to the same time last year. The Committee also heard that 123 new planning applications had been validated during January, an increase of 15% over the same period last year. The Council's Planning and Place Department currently has 1,024 live applications under consideration.

(MH/JP)