A Belfast councillor has raised concerns that the second pathway planned for the Lagan Gateway Project will be too close to the river.
Aine Groogan shared her views with Belfast Live following a public information event about the project at the YMCA in Stranmillis on Thursday evening.
The route has been decided in conjunction with Lagan Homes which recently came under fire from locals because of the impact their Hampton Park development has had on biodiversity and nature in the area.
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The Green Party NI councillor praised the council's Lagan Gateway team for giving the community a chance to have their say on the proposed Phase 2 route at the design stage.
Ms Groogan told us: "I'm appreciative of the council in doing this session."
The plan is yet to be submitted to planners for their consideration.
Ms Groogan added: "I have some concerns that the first section of the pathway is needlessly close to the river and disrupts too much wildlife & biodiversity.
"There's an opportunity to use an existing route further from the riverbank, while also mitigating & restoring the destruction that has recently been caused to the orchard by development works in the area.
"I'm hopeful that the views put forward this evening will be taken on board by the Council and we will see some action over the coming weeks, particularly around a plan of action to rewild and improve biodiversity in phase 1 of the development in order to restore trust as well that the concerns of the local community are being taken seriously."
Colin Shaw from Save Our Lagan attended the information event. He said the "common concern is the impact on the river of the type of path and its route".
"We had reassurances that the path will be 2m wide along the longest section due to existing trees. The route too is to be reconsidered with one further away from the river's edge preferred by most. This would also lock-out any plans the developer has to build more houses on the land.
"What's unclear is how this route will tie into the wider Belfast-Carryduff greenway the Department for Infrastructure has planned."
He also raised questions about how the greenway, which could funnel commuter traffic, could impact the area for pedestrians and what effects it could have on wildlife.
He added: "We suggested a missing voice in the Council/Aecom team was a biodiversity or environmental expert who could talk in detail about mitigations, likely long-term impacts, and the plans for regeneration of the river and valley that have given so much to Belfast but have lost so much in terms of habitat and wildlife.
"It's nice to see £700,000 spent on an elevated cycleway, now how about the same for improvements to biodiversity?"
Save Our Lagan's Sue-Ann Harding also said people at the public information event "insisted the proposed path be kept far away from the riverbank".
"This is to protect and keep undisturbed the wild, underdeveloped side of the riverbank for wildlife. The towpath on the left bank means that wildlife shelter on the right bank, so the path must be well away from this side of the river."
Sue-Ann says people also raised concerns about nearby works by Lagan Homes that have impacted a meadow in the area, adding "there is no reason at all why the path cannot cross the meadow far from the riverbank".
She added that people don't want the proposed path to skirt around the edge of the spoil heaps but rather, they want to see the path used (if it must be built) to rewild and re-orchard the area affected.
"Belfast City Council reps agreed that the proposed path route, along the riverbank on the plans, was something they would now change."
Sue-Ann said she would like to see more information on expected footfall, the need for the path and why cycling infrastructure could not just be improved on the roads instead. She also called for more detail on what impact the plans will have on trees and vegetation as well as a third consultation about the biodiversity impacts of the project.
"My personal view is that the Climate Act, the Local Development Plan with its calls for environmental protection and care, the biodiversity crisis and the Rights of Nature, must all be central to any plans for this site and for the AONB as a whole," she added.
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