Road safety concerns raised about new Dunmurry Lidl

The Belfast City Council Planning Committee unanimously approved the demolition of existing commercial units at Kingsway, Dunmurry, for the build of a new Lidl food store covering 2,300 sqm.

The site is currently in use as a Tesco supermarket and five smaller retail units with parking space to the front and rear.

The proposal provides 119 parking spaces in total, with six spaces for disabled parking and four for parent and child.

In June the council’s Planning Committee approved a new Tesco retail shop at part of the Makro site at 97 Kingsway.

At the November monthly meeting of the full Belfast Council at City Hall, local People Before Profit Councillor Michael Collins told the chamber: “(The new Lidl) is a major development that could have major commercial benefits to the local area, and as well as that it could uplift the aesthetics of the area, and obviously provide convenience for people in the area, with access to groceries.

“I recognise the benefits, but I do need to flag up something in advance. This is obviously going to cause big disruption because it is such a big development, and I think it is important the council recognises early that we are going to have to work very closely with the Stormont Department for Infrastructure to mitigate problems of congestion and road safety.

“It is an area with a history of road safety concerns. We have had campaigns to have zebra crossings installed and we are continuing to press to get another zebra crossing installed up at Dunmurry train tracks, where there are inadequate footpaths.

“It is quite an old area, and it is going to see a revamp with this reconstruction, but I want it on the record now that the council needs to work with DfI to avoid disruption at peak times, such as school pick-up and drop-off times.

"We need to look at mitigating the use of industrial vehicles. This is another regular complaint I get from people in Dunmurry, the use of heavy vehicles, going up and down lanes damaging the infrastructure, and causing major health and safety risks.”

Regarding the application, there was one letter of concern from a neighbouring third-party who raised issues about the location of the main entrance, a potential conflict between residential access and shoppers, and an impact from the height of the new building.

A planning officer wrote in the application report: “It is considered that the proposal will not harm the character and appearance of the surrounding context given that the site is already used for supermarket retail use.

“The concern raised within representation regarding impact of shoppers on the private access to neighbouring residential dwelling has been considered. It is the opinion of officers that the proposed access will have no greater impact than existing access.

“Vehicular access to the site remains the same with shoppers entering and leaving the premises having to traverse the same route to the parking facilities no matter the location of the access point to the proposed premises.”