PLANS for Bangor’s last massive housing development have been heavily reduced. But the property developers behind the project have dismissed calls from roads bosses to build extra safety features on Gransha Road to help drivers get into and out of the scheme. The Bell’s Hill development, to be constructed on farmland next to Bloomfield Shopping Centre, has picked up more than 90 objections from concerned locals since plans were first filed last year. Originally meant to be 183 homes consisting of a mixture of apartments, townhouses, and both detached and semi-detached units, developers have now amended their plans and want to build a total of 157 homes. But the scheme involves adding in a new junction to Gransha Road as the development’s main entrance and exit, something that locals worry will make existing congestion problems and traffic dangers in the area worse. A main access route leading between heavily built-up suburban areas and the ring road dual carriageway – which in turn leads to the town centre, Bangor’s largest shopping centre, and routes to Belfast – Gransha Road is also home to an extremely popular school and is regularly gridlocked with traffic. Figures show that between the start of 2018 and the middle of last year, there were 19 car crashes along the road, with a total of 29 people hurt or affected in the accidents. Roads bosses in Stormont’s Department for Infrastructure (DfI) had asked developers to build extra safety features at Bell’s Hill, advising them to add traffic lights to connect with Gransha Road’s large roundabout, limit exit routes from the development to a left-turn only to avoid people trying to head right across four lanes of traffic, and build a left slip lane into the development to help the movement of cars. In recently filed documents, the developers dismissed that advice. They claimed the left-turn-only exit would ‘add additional traffic to Gransha Road roundabout, which is what we’re trying to avoid’ and state that their preferred two-way exit is acceptable as it’s similar to a junction recently built at a development on Rathgael Road on the outskirts of Bangor. They also argue that Bell’s Hill will add what current planning legislation considers to be an acceptable level of traffic onto Gransha Road, so the traffic lights and slip lane aren’t needed either. North Down MLA Andrew Muir believes that Gransha Road is already so dangerous that the authorities should carry out a review of safety measures there, whether or not Bell’s Hill gets built. Speaking this week, he said that he’s ‘astounded that the developers have not taken into account much of the feedback and recommendations from the DfI’. Said the Alliance MLA: “It is perplexing that none of the major recommendations have been taken onboard in the recently resubmitted plans. They cannot realistically believe approval can be given with the DfI’s concerns so clearly ignored. “Given how busy the road and roundabout are, it should have been clear that substantial solutions would need to be reached in order to cope with an even higher volume of traffic spilling out onto this junction. “I cannot and will not support the proposals and will be submitting further objections in light of the road safety concerns. “I hope planners will see sense and avert what would be a disastrous and potentially dangerous development.” Describing the reduction in home numbers as ‘a welcome cut but nowhere near far enough’, Mr Muir added that residents of the Gransha area remain deeply concerned about the impact the development could have on an already overstretched part of the road network. Bell’s Hill is the last big housing project that can be built within the current limits of Bangor. It’s the only large area of green space left for development, as everywhere else has been built on or zoned off as protected land, and any future projects across the entire council area are earmarked for the Newtownards region.
