Urban sports spaces are planned for car parks under the M3
A major plan which aims to transform public space under the M3 bridges in Belfast, while improving connectivity between the city centre and Sailortown, has been forwarded to the city’s planning authority.
An application for the “Under the Bridges” project has been submitted by Belfast City Council to its own Planning Committee at City Hall.
The plan involves public realm and road improvements, including the development of an urban sports park below the M3 flyover at Corporation Street/Tomb Street and new public space below the M3 flyover at Donegall Quay.
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As well as space under the M3 flyover, the application covers lands at Donegall Quay, Tomb Street, Gamble Street, and Little Patrick Street. The council says it is “targeting an approval” for the application by the end of March 2026.
The application form was submitted on September 3, according to the Planning Portal, but to date no further details of the application are continued therein.
However, at the council’s October meeting of its City Growth and Regeneration Committee, elected representatives were given an update on the project, and the wider workings of the Waterfront Task Group.
Councillors heard that the design work on the project focuses on the connections between Corporation Square and the city centre along proposed active travel routes of Tomb Street, Gamble St, Gt. Patrick St, and Little Patrick Street, the site for several student accommodation blocks.
The council report for the committee states: “Proposals for an urban sports/recreation space will be brought to public consultation for the car park areas under the M3 flyover. This is aimed at improving lighting and usage of this area, as well as providing a recreation facility for existing and emerging communities and users alike.
“Design development is happening in tandem with the (Stormont) Department for Infrastructure Active Travel Team to ensure that the proposed scheme integrates with the proposed Corporation Street Cycle Scheme that is due to go to public consultation in October 2025.”
Designs for the Under the Bridges project have been put to a public consultation meeting earlier this month, as well as an online event, and councillors will be updated on the project before Christmas.
A council officer said at the committee meeting: “While this project is a connectivity scheme at heart, the area underneath the bridges is subject to antisocial behaviour, and there is poor lighting and all sorts of issues there at the minute.
“We really want to create a nodal point there, an urban recreational space, with multi-use facilities. Some of the uses we are going to be testing through the public consultation will be 3X3 basketball, multi-purpose courts, urban climbing walls, swings, seating etcetera. And all underpinned by lighting to improve the area, and making the area safer and nicer for people to move through and stay in.”
The project is one of a series of plans coming from the Waterfront Task Group, chaired by the Belfast Council Chief Executive and consisting of a host of groups including Stormont departments, the Maritime Belfast Trust, Harbour Commissioners, local community groups, and Tourism NI.
The task group was created in 2023, and commissioned a detailed analysis of the waterfront area from the Ormeau Road Bridge to Thompsons Dock, compiling analysis on completed and pending developments, as well as identifying opportunities and gaps in infrastructure along the waterfront.
The waterfront and extended area has seen substantial development in recent years, with the relocation of Ulster University to York Street and the subsequent influx of student accommodation in the surrounding areas putting a new spotlight on the area.
Projects delivered or in the pipeline include the City Quays Gardens, which transformed a former car park into a vibrant green space, public realm works at Little York Street and Little Patrick Street and major residential and office buildings at City Quays four and five. A major public realm environmental improvement scheme is also on its way at Cathedral Gardens, including an urban forest.
There are several additional schemes at various stages of development, including the Sailortown/Titanic Quarter active travel bridge, the Corporation Street active travel cycle lane, and further along the Lagan, the Gasworks to Ormeau Park Bridge.
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