By Julie Waters
OFFICIALS from Ards and North Down Council have ruled out a number of alternative locations for a controversial car park planned for the £14m Marine Gardens in Bangor.
Residents and environmentalists opposed to plans for an 81-space paid car park on a small parkland at Queen’s Parade had wanted the council to consider other car parks in the town as possible alternatives.
But council documents show that various city centre car parks were ruled out for a variety of reasons leaving the parkland the only location for the car park.
The developer of Marine Gardens, Bangor Marine, insisted that it needed the land for the car park, with a 125- year lease, to generate a return on its investment.
At a crunch meeting with councillors last week Bangor Marine warned the entire £72m Queen’s Parade project was under threat if the marina-side car park did not get approval from politicians.
The proposal was approved but planning permission has yet to be granted and the Crown Estate, which leases the land to the council, will have to agree a sub-lease to the developer.
According to council documents, the local authority now hopes to allay public concerns that alternate sites were not fully considered as part of the proposed new plans.
The papers state that the suggestion that other car parks such as the free Eisenhower Pier, and the paid car parks at the Marina and Central Avenue could be transferred to developers Bangor Marine were discounted as they are ‘council assets’.
The documents state that these car parks are ‘current assets of the council for which income is received’ except for the Eisenhower car park which is free and ‘very well used’.
Transferring a car park to Bangor Marine would mean a loss of income to ratepayers that would pose a problem for the council as it is under a ‘legislative requirement to get best price or best rental in any disposal of its assets’.
It would also be ‘very difficult for the council to demonstrate why it should transfer a council facility for no income and indeed a loss of income’.
The papers further explain that the Marina and Eisenhower car parks are also within the development areas of the £72m Bangor Waterfront regeneration scheme – a 10-year project that aims to redevelop a two mile stretch of Bangor seafront.
The council was awarded £40m from Belfast Region City Deal towards the scheme which is separate to the Queen’s Parade scheme.
The council papers state that both the Marine and Eisenhower car park areas are included in the BRCD Bangor Waterfront business case and ‘removal of them at this stage, with the overall plan having been developed, may put the Bangor Waterfront funding at risk’.
It is understood that a number of other possibilities were considered including a car park underneath Marine Gardens, two other locations at the western end of the site, and the McKee Clock arena. All were deemed unworkable.
The documents said an underground car park would be prone to flooding. The two other locations at the west end of the site were also deemed unacceptable as they would split the flow of the development and isolate the play park.
Use of the McKee Clock arena was also discounted as ‘it is a major events space’ and it is hoped the arena will be ‘a key driver for Bangor’s development’.
