Palmerston Residents Association Concerns Grow Regarding 2-4 Station Road The Den The Home Of Gustav Wilhelm Wolff

The Palmerston Residents Association are still waiting on a reply from the Environment and Heritage Services in Northern Ireland the Association received a letter on the 21 February 2008 from the Director of Built Heritage where they point out our concerns regarding this site. The Association voice their own concerns regarding spot listing of the two cottages that stand on this site, the Association has also made contact with the Ulster Unionist Party the party that Gustav Wilhelm Wolff worked with and supported for some 18 years when he was a member of parliament for East Belfast in 1892, he sat unopposed for five General Elections in 1911 and was granted the Freedom of the City of Belfast . The Association has also been in contact with the Rt Hon Peter Robinson,MP MLA and Deputy Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party to enlist their support to save this part of our history for the people of Belfast. We can now confirm that the Rt Hon Peter Robinson MP MLA has made contact with the Department of the Environment Private Office of the Minister of the Environment asking the Minster to investigate how this site might be preserved because of its Historical association with Gustav Wilhelm Wolff. The Association feels that there should be a clear decision made regarding this site it needs to be protected it may not meet the criteria in some way for listing, but this would be a significant part of our history being wiped out. We see the great Ship Building History in Northern Ireland being replaced by the Titanic Quarter. The city should have held on to parts of the old yard for a prime visitors centre and museum for Ship Building World Wide, this site is only a small part of the history remaining that you can go to see and touch its not just a name. The association looks to all our members of Parliament to come out and fully back us in trying to protect this remaining part of our shipbuilding history of Northern Ireland. The association would like to thank the Deputy Leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland Naomi Long MP MLA for her full support in the fight to save this site for our children's history and for the fathers and grandfathers who worked and lost lives while working at Harland and Wolff on the great ships that the yard once built and the passengers of the Titanic who lost their lives.The association feels that this remaining part of our history must be saved for the sake of our children.