Any delays to a scheme to tear up a park and build car parking spaces could scupper an eight-figure sum of investment – and potentially threaten a massive central revamp that’s already decades late.

That’s according to developers behind the move, which has seen a huge public outcry in Bangor over the past couple of months as residents of the Co Down seaside city campaign to get the wrecking ball called off.

Monday evening saw a protest outside a behind-closed-doors city hall meeting between politicians and property developers building a £60m project to overhaul Queen’s Parade, a declining area of Bangor’s seafront once voted Ulster’s biggest eyesore in a TV poll.

Construction on the long-awaited revamp began last year, after local officials spent decades trying to get various different ideas off the ground – but developers Bangor Marine want to alter what was planned, and have now released full details of those changes for the first time.

placeholder image — An impression of how a children's play area could look, which developers Bangor Marine say would not be possible without scrapping a neighbouring park to build car parking spaces.

And unless the council gives them a green light without delay, documents newly published by the developer warn, at least £14m of investment might disappear and the entire scheme could collapse.

The conglomerate wants to build a children’s play area, a facility it describes as “world class” and that would “strengthen Bangor’s waterfront as a major visitor destination” – but it insists the play area has to have parking facilities, and the only way to get that is to demolish a much-loved green area next door called Marine Gardens.

According to the developer’s published documents, there’s no choice but to demolish the park.

“The car park is essential to support the playpark,” states Bangor Marine. “Without it the project is not viable. We have explored every other possible option.”

The developer adds: “Delay risks c. £14m of investment and the overall project.”

Building the car park would cost around £1m, states Bangor Marine, adding their requested 125-year lease on the public land comprising Marine Gardens is the “minimum term to secure private investment”, while the local council would get increased rates as well as a percentage of net revenue from the pay and display facility.

The developer, which has already demolished a large free car park in the area as part of the revamp’s construction work, claims the playpark alone could bring in around 200,000 visitors per year, with the overall project attracting “new visitors from across the borough and beyond”.

Adding in the playpark and car park, the developer states, will “increase visitor numbers and encourage repeat visits to Bangor’s waterfront” as well as bring in money as “longer visits drive greater spend in the city”.

But campaigners disagree; as Kathy Smith from the group Save Marine Gardens told the News Letter at Monday night’s protest, she thinks: “People will drive in, go to the children’s play area and leave; we want them walking around Bangor, boosting footfall.

“There are car parks a few minutes’ walk from this site that almost always have spaces, this isn’t needed.”

The local council has stated any changes to the revamp will need to be run through a formal planning process before they can go ahead.