Public urge council to reopen car park

Responding to last week’s story about the possibility of the long-running saga being back on the committee’s agenda within the next couple of months, local residents took to the Ulster Star Facebook page to urge the council to approve a temporary car park application relating to the Antrim Street site

Liam Conlon commented: “Parking is at a premium in Lisburn and this car park needs reopened. Council need to listen to the people on the street.”

Melanie McCracken posted: “Should never have been forced to close, best car park in Lisburn!!”

Maureen Cree said: “Lisburn needs this central car park, it was great when it was open, now all car parks are full and it’s difficult to get parked anywhere!!!”

Amanda Reilly added: “This needs to be opened permanently or the council need to do something about the other car parking situation in the town. I work in the town centre myself in a salon and the parking is doing serious harm to us, clients constantly discuss their frustration about parking to us as certain car parks only allow them to pay for up to 3 hours and Bow Street Mall is too dear or Graham Gardens is full and I totally agree with everything they say. It’s not encouraging people to come into Lisburn at all and this needs to change.”

But not everyone agreed that the car park should be reopened. Some took to social media to put forward their view that there is plenty of car parking in the city already, while Stuart Cree said vacant sites should be considered for possible redevelopments to create new facilities for young people.