Bangor and Newtownards "unproductive" public land audit ordered

A major audit of all “unproductive” publicly owned land in Bangor and Newtownards is to be made with a view to attracting investment in future developments.

A motion forwarded by Alliance Councillors Alex Harbinson and Chris McCracken of Ards and North Down Borough Council was unanimously agreed at a recent council committee meeting.

Council officials have been asked to prepare a visual map for all public sector land in Bangor City Centre and Newtownards town centre, and colour code holdings that are potentially connected with future developments, even if not yet fully agreed.

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This will involve land relating to schemes such as those at Bangor Waterfront, Queen’s Parade, Newtownards Citizen’s Hub and the council’s car park strategy. This would include public land belonging to the council and NI Executive departments.

Officials will further identify public sector land that is currently unproductive and outside the scope of wider strategies, with a view to making such land available for future private sector development.

This would include land that is either vacant, contains empty or derelict buildings, or contains buildings that are under-utilised or dated to the point that redevelopment is required. The map for this land will also include land that is facilitating “meanwhile use.”

Lastly council officers have been asked to prepare a summary report highlighting how unproductive public sector land could be repurposed and how such a process could be progressed within the bounds of current planning considerations and policy.

At the November meeting of the Place and Prosperity Committee in the council’s Newtownards Church Street building, Councillor McCracken explained the motion.

He said: “Ards and North Down needs to position itself as a borough open to investment. We can’t just rely on public investment or locally based companies, important as those two sectors are.

“We need private investment coming into the borough to renew our urban centres to create wealth and to expand job opportunities. We need significant capital investment from developers.

“However, capital is mobile, as we are all aware, so we do need to work hard to attract it. We need to make it as easy as possible to land capital, to market the benefits of our borough, and to deliver new developments and new opportunities.

“That’s what this motion aims to achieve. By surfacing and bringing these to market, we can open the door to new capital investment.”

He added: “It may take some digging from officers, because we are not just interested in gap sites, but also interested in vacant buildings, underutilised buildings, and buildings that are occupied but perhaps near the end of their natural life, but whose next step may be to refurbish and repurpose, or demolish and rebuild.”

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