Call to tighten housing rules
University of Ulster vice chancellor Professor Richard Barnett commended the agencies who worked together to minimise disorder during the St Patrick?s Day festivities.
Thursday March 18 2010
Planning regulations on student houses must be tightened to provide a long-term solution to anti-social behaviour in the Holylands area of Belfast, a university chief has urged.
University of Ulster vice chancellor Professor Richard Barnett commended the agencies who worked together to minimise disorder during the St Patrick's Day festivities.
But he stressed the response involving intensive patrolling by police, council and university officials and mobile CCTV cameras was only a "sticking plaster" on a long-standing problem that had yet to be tackled.
Eight people were arrested in the Holylands, but disturbances did not reach the scale of last year's riots.
Around two thirds of the properties in the Holylands are designated as houses of multiple occupancy (HMO), the majority of which are rented by students.
Mr Barnett said the planning regulations that regulated HMOs had to be confronted if the Holyland issue is to be resolved permanently.
The vice chancellor said wider issues including the culture of drinking to excess also had to be tackled by the government.
Police acting District Commander Superintendent Chris Noble said he was pleased St Patrick's Day had passed without major incident.
SDLP South Belfast Assembly member Conall McDevitt has said that while the revellers were contained and managed in the Holyland, it remained unacceptable to turn the area into a street party without the consent of long-term residents.
"I was in the area all day yesterday with several volunteers and representatives from the inter-agency group and the efforts of all involved ensured that things did not get out of hand," he said. "However, whilst the situation was managed and contained, it is incumbent upon public representatives, the universities and city and regional government to find ways of going further than just containment of the situation."
