By Lesley Walsh
WARNINGS over a ‘dangerous’ hoarding at the construction site of a new Lidl store in Bangor has forced the supermarket to bow to public pressure to replace part of the controversial structure.
Residents living near the building site warned it was only a matter of time before someone got ‘wiped out’ at a corner where the tall hoarding obstructed the view of oncoming traffic.
People living in Skipperstone Avenue feared injury or worse for pedestrians or motorists as a result of the high, solid fence structure which has been in place for the past few months securing the building site.
Locals said the hoarding was ‘extremely dangerous’ for motorists who faced a resulting blind bend, while entering the area via Skipperstone Park, near the South Circular Road roundabout outside Bloomfield Shopping Centre.
Older people aged from 50 to 90, who make up the majority of people living in the culdesac on Skipperstone Avenue, said they feared walking the section of road in question, as the footpath was removed to accommodate the hoarding,
though a narrow walkway was built into a section of the site to allow pedestrians access to the Bloomfield Road.
North Down MLA Stephen Dunne had called for the safety of road users and pedestrians to be top priority during the construction project.
Prior to Lidl’s commitment to introduce safer measures, a spokesperson for the Department for Infrastructure confirmed it had ‘engaged with the contractor at the Skipperstone Park site in relation to the hoarding erected around this construction site’.
Responding to public pressure, a spokesman for Lidl Northern Ireland told the Spectator on Tuesday it was moving to improve safety at the site.
It confirmed it would be replacing part of the hoarding with a ‘mesh’ material that motorists can see through.
In a statement, Lidl said ‘providing the highest standard of health, safety and care for the communities we operate in is of utmost importance to us’.
“We take the feedback from local residents regarding the Bloomfield construction site very seriously. Following a recent on-site review alongside relevant stakeholders, we are taking immediate action to improve sightlines at the corner of Skipperstone Park and Skipperstone Avenue.
“While the main site hoarding must remain in place for the remainder of construction to ensure public safety and site security, we are replacing the solid closed-board fencing with mesh Heras fencing. This work is being carried out as a matter of priority this week to immediately improve visibility for local motorists and pedestrians,” added the spokesperson.
Lidl’s promise to improve safety at the site followed residents’ concerns of ‘near misses’.
One resident told the Spectator that his wife visited her elderly father in Skipperstone Avenue every day and ‘already had a near miss with a white van man’, he said.
“She’s had a few near misses actually, and I contacted the DfI who said it was aware it is dangerous,” he said.
The Bangor resident, who lives in another part of the city, suggested that some kind of mesh barrier could have been constructed to give oncoming motorists and pedestrians a view of approaching vehicles.
A resident who lives in the area agreed that ‘it’s very very dangerous’, and said her neighbours are ‘very frightened’ driving round the corner.
“It’s so dangerous; there’s going to be an accident. We have people here up to 90 years of age and there’s always ambulances coming and the fire brigade and it’s so dangerous at the moment.”
