ARDS and North Down Council is ‘engaging’ with the Crown Estate over plans to replace a seafront green space with a car park.
Bangor Marine, the developers of the huge Queen’s Parade regeneration project, wants to replace the small parkland area with a paid-for car park much to the anger of local residents.
The parkland is owned by the Crown Estate which must agree to the car park proposal before it can go ahead. Despite the council claiming it has yet to receive Bangor Marine’s plans for the site, which must be approved by politicians, council officials have already been in touch with the Crown Estate to discuss the proposal.
Bangor Marine is due to present detailed plans to councillors at a behind closed doors ‘workshop’ on Monday. Last week the developer announced that while it wants to press ahead with the car park proposal, it is prepared to scale it back and retain some of the mature trees at the site.
An independent body, the Crown Estate, whose history stretches back to 1760 and King George III, owns sections of the North Down foreshore upon which the scheme will be built.
Residents only learned of the car park plans in February, which they claim includes the granting of a 125 year lease to Bangor Marine for the car park. The firm will then receive the parking charges revenue, a deal worth millions of pounds.
In correspondence sent to the residents, the Coastal Team at Crown Estates confirmed that officials are ‘currently engaging with the council to understand the options for Marine Gardens/Queen’s Parade’.
The team stressed that a planning application had not been submitted to date but they ‘continue to liaise with the council’.
In a letter to residents Coastal Team acknowledged the residents’ concerns, stating they ‘recognise the importance of the Marine Gardens and Queen’s Parade to the local community’.
The letter added that ‘protecting and enhancing nature is a core part of The Crown Estate’s work’ and ‘we expect this to be an important consideration as local plans develop’.
According to Bangor Marine’s latest proposals, which only emerged nearly six months after work had begun on the Marine Gardens, the new seafront car park will sit beside a £1m play park,
Work on the £14m Marine Gardens, which is the first phase of Queen’s Parade redevelopment project and is set to include the £1.3m Colin Davidson sculpture series entitled Eclipse, finally got underway in September last year.
According to the Bangor Marine website, the Marine Gardens redevelopment is due to take one year to complete and will also include ‘modern food and beverage pavilions’.
The timeline for the further phases of the seafront redevelopment, which includes offices, retail, new homes, an events space, public realm, cafes and restaurants ‘are currently under review’ and they are ‘presently carrying out an extensive assessment that will dictate next steps’.
The council has stated the Queen’s Parade site, at the heart of the city centre, is the preferred location for its new civic offices, a project that has the potential to bring 400 employees together in one central hub.
