Summary of committee minutes: 13 September 2006
Fourteen members attended and there was one apology.

Chapel of the Resurrection
This was discussed at length. The chairman reported that he had received responses from Nigel Dodds MP and Alban Maginnis MLA. Mr Dodds had written to the planning office. The current plan is for conversion into three apartments, maintaining the exterior structure of the listed building. The committee agreed that the omens were reasonably positive after many years of neglect and inaction.

Communication with membership
It was agreed to send an initial mailshot to members in order to update them with news of the campaign and where appropriate to collect subscription arrears. The chairman stated that he intended to make regular communication a priority in the near future, preferably using email, but if necessary by post.

Annual Survey Sunday 25 June 2006
The chairman circulated the results, which showed that a total of 373 people arrived at McArts Fort.

Mountain Bikes
The chairman reported on a meeting with council officials on the subject of a proposed mountain bike course on the Cave Hill and surrounding woodland. The committee expressed concern about the lack of an environmental impact assessment and also the possible detrimental effect on walkers whose numbers far exceeded bikers. The chairman stated that he would report these concerns.

New constitution
This was adopted unanimously.

Summary of committee minutes: 11 October 2006
Nine members attended and there were four apologies.

Mountain Bikes
It was agreed that we should formally oppose the dedicated mountain bike track proposal and make this known to the council officials.

Chapel of the Resurrection
The development will consist of 33 town houses as well as converting the chapel into three apartments. The chairman reported that he had been advised by Nigel Dodds MP that the developer would not be permitted to sell if he did not comply with the planning conditions.

Membership
It was agreed that a summary of committee meeting minutes could be supplied to the membership by email, in addition to being posted on the website.

Friends of Belfast Hills
It was agreed that contact should be made with this group with a view to extending the catchment area of our membership.

Summary of committee minutes: 8 November 2006
Ten members attended and there were three apologies.

Membership
The chairman reported on the most recent efforts to establish a fully functioning database. All members of the CCC are to be informed of the existence of the database, and, that apart from reminding members of subscriptions due, it is hoped to provide members with summaries of committee meetings. It was also pointed out that this would also serve as a useful reminder of the annual fund raising event - which this year will take place on Friday 1st December in Fortwilliam Golf Club and, as before, take the form of a table quiz.

Chapel of the Resurrection
There were no significant new developments with respect to the Chapel of the Resurrection.

Cave Hill Country Park
It was reported that the scheme for the construction of a dedicated 'bike-track' near the Cave Hill has been abandoned though there has been no formal statement to that effect.

Tree planting
Marc Schiltz asked about the saplings planted a few years previously on the steep bank facing the Maze. Peter reported that these required some maintenance but still survived.

Summary of committee minutes: 13 December 2006
Ten members attended and there were two apologies.

Quiz Night
The Treasurer reported a profit of £513 from the Quiz Night held at Fortwilliam Golf Club on Friday 1st December. There was general approval of the manner in which the quizmaster had conducted the proceedings, but it was agreed that more funds could have been raised on the night with better planning and that the meeting in October 2007 should be devoted to more efficient planning of the Quiz Night. Membership

Membership
The Chairman reported that £210 had been paid in membership subscriptions as a consequence of the recent mail-shot. There was some surprise expressed at the relatively high number of members without e-mail.

Chapel of the Resurrection
The Chairman reported on an e-mail he had received local Belfast City councillor who had indicated the conditions attached to development on the site of the Chapel of the Resurrection. Work was not to be undertaken without an archaeological report on the site and access was to be made available to monitors of this study. Repairs of the listed building were to be undertaken, and protective measures for the building during this undertaking were to be approved in advance. No habitation of new buildings is to be permitted until these considerations are approved. There was general agreement that the development would be appropriate, provided the conditions were observed.

Water Service land
Catherine McWilliams then raised the issue of the sale of Water Service land in the vicinity of Cave Hill and the possible threat this posed from developers. Since there was lack of detailed knowledge, she agreed to pursue the matter.

Honey Club development
Peter stated that a planning application for sixty-nine apartments with facilities for underground parking had been submitted for the site of the Honey Club (formerly the Shaftesbury Inn) on the Antrim Road.

Hedge-laying
Peter reported on the hedge-laying course which he had attended, and mentioned some aspects of it which would be applicable to the work of CCC.

Summary of committee minutes: 10 January 2007
Ten members attended and there were three apologies.

Land at Ben Madigan Heights
It was agreed that this should be followed up with the Woodland Trust. Belfast City Council had declined the proposed gift of the area of woodland from the Craig estate.

Themed hill walks
It was agreed to approach Belfast Hills Partnership for ideas on possible themed walks on Cave Hill. Possible themes included archaeology, geology, history and botany. A dawn chorus walk was also supported.

St Clements development
It was revealed that the number of housing units in the outline planning request had been increased from 69 to 110. Concern was expressed that further increases in density would be possible after outline planning permission was obtained. It was agreed that action should be taken to ensure compliance with the tree preservation orders which applied to every tree on the estate.

2007 programme
The following programme was agreed:
AGM: Wednesday 23 May, Lansdowne Hotel.
Cleanup day: Saturday 2 June.
User survey: Sunday 24 June.
Quiz Night: Friday 23 November, venue to be confirmed

Summary of committee minutes: 21 February 2007
Eleven members attended and there were four apologies.

Tree planting
It was reported that this will be either Saturday 3 March or Saturday 10 March. It was hoped that Belfast City Council would pay for a further 200 trees to be planted at the Hightown Road site.

Belfast Hills Partnership
It was agreed that the Director of the Belfast Hills Partnership, Jim Bradley, should be invited to attend the next committee meeting to give an update on issues affecting Cave Hill.

St Clements development
There was further discussion about this. Concern was expressed about the recent change to the planning application and the lack of a clear boundary between the estate and the Cave Hill Country Park, as well as the fate of the trees which were protected by tree preservation orders. There was a risk that the preservation orders would be ignored or circumvented by the developer, although it was felt that actual building work was still many months away.

Cleanup day Saturday 2 June
There was a brief discussion and it was agreed that more community participation was needed.

Gift Aid
It was reported that as the Campaign was now registered as a charity with HM Revenue and Customs, it would be able to reclaim Gift Aid tax on income from membership subscriptions.

Cave Hill Campaigner
It was agreed that the next meeting would agree on a new editor for the issue due for publication in May 2007.

Summary of committee minutes: 14 March 2007
Jim Bradley, Chairman of the Belfast Hills Partnership was a guest and reviewed the work of the Partnership. He reported that the Partnership was well representative of all the interest groups - from farmers, quarrymen and waste disposal men to environmental groups and statutory bodies. The current emphasis of the Partnership was on the promotion of biodiversity. He also reported on current moves towards developing wind energy adjacent to the Belfast Hills.

Further tree planting by us within the Cave Hill Country Park was discussed; the council is to be contacted re this.

Summary of committee minutes: 18 April 2007

Cave Hill Campaigner
A new editor was appointed, contributions welcomed and further contributions, photographs and advertisements sought. This year's Campaigner will be distributed after the next meeting on 9 May.

AGM
Arrangements for the AGM in the Lansdowne Hotel 23 May at 7.30 were reviewed: it is hoped to have a speaker from Friends of the Earth.

Clean-up Day
Arrangements were put in place for the clean-up day on 2 June; it is hoped that greater numbers of our members will attend.

Guided walks
There will be a guided dawn chorus walk for us in the Country Park on 19 May. There will also be a lizard and newt identification walk in June; the date is yet to be finalised.

Summary of committee minutes: May 2007

Cave Hill Campaigner
The meeting agreed the allocation of the 3,500 copies of the Campaigner magazine for local distribution. The editor was authorised to take all reasonable editorial decisions in future editions but would refer contentious issues to the chair. The editor was congratulated on the quality of this year's issue.

Summary of committee minutes: June 2007

* Next year's clean-up day will be reviewed and revamped.

* Last minute details were sorted out for the upcoming survey of visitors to McArt's Fort on 17 June.

* It was agreed to approach the Belfast Hills Partnership to see whether we might have a CCC member sit on it.

* Early arrangements were made for the quiz in late October / early November.

* Further consideration was given to achieving "company limited by guarantee" status and September's meeting will consider this further.

* It is intended to do some work on Japanese knotweed and general tree maintenance near the Hightown Road entrance to the Park over the summer.