By Julie Waters
COMPLETING the Queen’s Parade project will likely cost at least £100m, double the initial estimate.
A local councillor has claimed in the six years since the scheme was costed at £50m, building costs have soared so completing the regeneration project will require significant additional investment.
What is billed as a more realistic cost came as Ards and North Down Council agreed to work with developers Bangor Marine to attract the investment needed to complete the development.
Councillors at a recent Place and Prosperity Committee meeting backed the call for a commercial marketing plan to be developed to attract investment for the further phases of the seafront development.
Bangor Central councillor Chris McCracken brought forward the two pronged notice of motion, stating it was important that complementary investment for Bangor’s Waterfront project was also sought.
Council officers were tasked to bring back an initial plan by early 2026 that could be used at future property investment conferences in the United Kingdom and abroad.
Site work has begun at Marine Gardens, the first phase of the Queen’s Parade redevelopment, which includes a new play park, two pavilions, landscaped gardens and an events space. Due to be completed in a year, it is supported by £9.8m in government funding.
The Bangor Waterfront redevelopment is a separate 10-year project by the council, with an expected cost of £72m, that received £40m funding from the Belfast City Region Deal, and is due to transform a 2.2-mile stretch of the North Down seafront.
The Waterfront regeneration includes five projects, starting at Skippingstone in the west and finishing at Bank’s Lane in the east; it includes the urban waterfront public realm, Pickie Family Fun Park, Bangor Marina, the Court House Phase II and Ballyholme Yacht Club Water Sports Centre.
Mr McCracken said he was keen to dispel public ‘confusion’ that the money to complete the Queen’s Parade seafront redevelopment was ‘sitting in an account somewhere’.
The Alliance Party councillor stated the estimated £50m cost to transform the derelict seafront set in 2019 had ‘likely doubled in the past six years to £100m but ‘it could be even greater’.
Said Mr McCracken: “There is some confusion among some residents that the money is sitting in an account somewhere, but it is private capital, it needs to be raised.”
The councillor said that he had ‘no doubt’ that Oakland Holdings, who together with the Karl Group make up Bangor Marine, have ‘many ideas’ for generating the investment needed but ‘the council needs to be a significant partner in that’.
Mr McCracken stressed he did not want there to be ‘any competition’ between the two redevelopment schemes, stating they must work in a ‘complementary way’ that would attract both national and international development.
In the second part of Mr McCracken’s notice of motion, council officials were further tasked to work alongside Bangor Marine to ‘support public communication about the seafront redevelopment’ and this included inviting the developers to the next Bangor City Advisory Group meeting to update local members.
Council officers were also asked to ‘support the proposed consultation hub led by Bangor Marine’ and hold regular meetings with the developer to ‘ensure accurate messaging on websites, newsletters and social media’.
Mr McCracken said it was important that everyone was ‘on the same page and sending out the same message’; he also wanted to ensure ‘residents felt up to date and there was two way communication’.
Alderman Alan McDowell said the Queen’s Parade redevelopment would rejuvenate the city centre, creating opportunities for jobs and living accommodation. He stressed it was important to keep the public informed saying: ‘I think that’s been part of the problem as they didn’t understand the work going on in the background, the issues and the problems’.
Alderman Naomi Armstrong-Cotter said the seafront redevelopment was now at a ‘turning point’ and everyone was working together to ensure the project was ‘beneficial for the entire community’.
The DUP Newtownards councillor said: “We all need to be doing our due diligence and presenting a uniting front. We need to be sending out a message that is correct, that we are seeking funding. We need to do it corporately as a body.”
