Council’s secret plan to sell Bangor park
By Iain Gray
THIS de facto park in the heart of Bangor is set to be sold off after a secret council decision.
The green site on Hamilton Road was created when a community hall was knocked down several years ago, turning it into what is effectively a small urban park.
But in a behind closed doors decision made several months ago, Ards and North Down Council agreed in principle to sell it off.
Officials are now to see if anyone is interested in buying it, with a spokeswoman telling the Spectator that the urban park was only ever a ‘meanwhile use’ of the site.
Last week, the council’s Planning Committee renewed permission for the area to remain a green space for another two years.
But planners’ reports briefly referred to a secret council decision in January to get rid of the park – and the council has now confirmed that it will soon start ‘testing market interest’ in the land.
The city centre green space was created when the old Hamilton House was demolished after Hamilton Road Community Hub opened, and the former site of the community hall was landscaped.
It was only given temporary planning permission to be in place, in part as its creation was rooted in 2020’s Covid pandemic when groups of people were banned from sharing indoor spaces.
Back then, it was thought that having an extra green space in the middle of Bangor would be a big help to locals trying to socialise or exercise in the open air.
Six months ago, the council secretly decided to sell it.
Under questioning this week, a spokeswoman stated that as the land was previously home to a building it counts as a ‘brownfield site’, and as such planners presume it should be redeveloped.
The spokeswoman said the land was landscaped in a bid to fend off anti-social behaviour in what could have become a derelict site, comparing the move to the Project 24 art pods that used to be on nearby Queen’s Parade.
She added: “In January 2024, the council agreed that, in line with its commitment to review and make more efficient and sustainable use of its estate, this site could be sold and that officers should engage with an agent to test market interest, with a further report on options being brought back to council for consideration.
“This will be progressed in the coming months.
“[Temporary planning permission] as recently approved extends the current arrangements, while allowing time for the council to consider other future uses for the site that offer best value to the council and ratepayers.”
Asked if the public will have long-term access to the park after it’s sold, the spokeswoman said the local authority ‘cannot comment on future ownership or access at this time as no plans have been proposed’.
She added that the sell-off plan has been kept in the shadows as the council has ‘not yet engaged an agent to progress the potential sale of this site, so no advertising has been undertaken’.
