Lisburn women fighting 'development frenzy' they fear will harm NI's only regional park
A determined group of women have joined forces to fight a 'development frenzy' they fear will harm Northern Ireland’s only regional park. Lagan Valley Regional Park is a celebrated patchwork of award winning parks, demesnes, woodland and meadows that provide nature with a corridor in which to thrive.
But the intrepid Quarterlands team from Drumbeg have serious concerns about a raft of planning applications they say will see long-re-wilded fields and hedgerows flattened to build detached family homes they say aren’t needed.
Meanwhile, other sites have been earmarked for a retirement village, a new hotel-spa and more houses. The group says it has voiced concerns about the cumulative impacts of all these applications on biodiversity, traffic, the lack of sewage system capacity and how increased development could further exacerbate floods like the area suffered last winter.
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But despite raising these concerns with Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, they say planners have outlined their intention to greenlight a development for 17 new homes between 58 and 66 Quarterlands Road.
A previous application for 15 homes on the site was withdrawn in October 2003 while a similar application was approved in July 2009 and expired in 2013.
According to reports on Northern Ireland’s planning portal, there are six Sites of Local Nature Conservation Interest within 1km of the site but the Environmental Assessment report determined an Environmental Statement was not needed as “environmental impacts” are “not likely to be significant”.
The desktop report also outlined the loss of a hedgerow within the site, which locals say is hawthorn aged around 165 years.
It added that NI Water “has consistently advised Drumbeg Waste Water Treatment works has capacity” for the 17 homes, however, NI Water’s own website states Drumbeg WwTW doesn’t “have any available capacity”.
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The report also said: “This is the last remaining piece of undeveloped land within the settlement limits of Drumbeg and is zoned for housing in draft BMAP”.
The Quarterlands group says the Department for Infrastructure told them the land did “not have a specific land use zoning” in the 2001 Lisburn Area Plan.
In a January 2023 response to the planning application, DAERA said: “The development has the potential to harm NI Priority Habitats; and related NI priority/protected species, and further ecological information is required”.
The original application stated they were not aware of any protected wildlife on the site, but subsequent videos and a DAERA report suggests badgers use the area while locals have reported seeing bats, hedgehogs and barn owls.
An ecological assessment said a badger survey was needed and highlighted how bats, barn owls and hedgehogs could be using the site to forage but did not suggest additional reports.
There is no badger survey available to view on the Northern Ireland planning portal in relation to the application.
Dr Andrew Bridge, manager of Lagan Valley Regional Park, has objected to the 17 homes saying the site “lies within the boundary of the Regional Park” and the application “will significantly eat away at this valuable green corridor” which “provides the only refuge for wildlife in an urban area”.
If approved, he said it “would greatly impact [the park’s] character... in terms of increased traffic pressure and its associated problems, loss of open greenspace and biodiversity.”
And outlined how the government and councils have “developed strategic objectives to protect and promote access to open greenspace for both mental and physical well-being and to alleviate the impacts of anthropogenic climate change”.
“We feel this development would represent a serious reversal in these initiatives.”
He also said “the proposed development will further reduce the amount of greenspace along the river corridor and would therefore contravene policy COU 12” - which states planning permission will only be “granted for new development or intensification of urban development where it can be demonstrated the proposal is appropriate to, and does not have a significant adverse effect on, the character of the Park”.
DfI Roads, LCCC’s environment department and the Rivers Agency did not object to the plans which attracted over 400 public objections and a petition signed by around 2,000.
Jennifer Adgey told Belfast Live the main concerns of the Quarterlands group are “the sewage problem, the biodiversity and the increase in traffic” which she says makes it “a project which increases the carbon in the atmosphere and nothing to remove it”.
“In fact, what we have at the present time to remove it, will be removed, so we will have no form of carbon offset.
“As we know the major production of carbon is from fossil fuels and car emissions and there are at least 69 vehicle spaces planned for this development - 14 on street and 44 in the driveways and 11 garages.
“You can imagine in a cul-de-sac development with one entrance and one exit, [and] vehicle spaces on-street, the flow of traffic is going to be very difficult and it’s onto a B road here - Quarterlands Road. The traffic that is going to be added will be very significant.“
Marion Reynolds told us “dealing with every planning application as a free standing application, rather than looking at the implications for the whole area” in terms of multiple applications in the area means “the impact for people who live in the area is not really measured”.
Roisin McDade said: “The cumulative effect also crosses into biodiversity loss. My biggest concern is for the protection of Lagan Valley Regional Park. It is the only regional park in Northern Ireland - we only have one and we need to protect it.
She added: “There’s not enough work being done to look at flood risk mitigation here in the area if it was built over. If it was concreted over all the natural sponges that hold back the water from the water table and the aquifers, it perforates at a slow rate that can maybe be acceptable during the dry months.
“It is not acceptable during the wetter months of the year or extreme weather events that are becoming more frequent. We don’t have any sight of any typography or hydrological surveys - we’ve asked for them but haven’t seen any.”
LCCC, the development applicant and Department for Infrastructure were all contacted for comment, with DfI saying it was for the council to respond.
We asked NI Water why they would not change their position on the development if the sewage works is now at full capacity. An NI Water spokesperson said: “NI Water confirmed in August 2021 to the applicant that the Works had capacity for 17 residential units.
“Therefore, the NI Water statutory consultation response recommended approval for 17 units.
“Our records confirm that planning consultations received since our response in respect of this application were for projects such as extensions to existing properties and replacement domestic dwellings.
“One larger scale project is currently going through the application process and therefore a final response from NI Water has not been given yet and a second project is providing its own wastewater requirements and therefore does not require a connection to the existing public wastewater network.”
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