Concern for road safety leads to nursing home planning refusal

The state-of-the-art 86 bed residential ‘Macklin Care Home’ was to be located at 531 Saintfield Road but Lisburn and Castlereagh Council was told the road sees 11 million journeys annually.

Access from the main road to the proposed site had been supported by the Department for Infrastructure (DfI). However, a report by Roads Service said the access road to the site was “substandard”.

Independent Councillor Nathan Anderson described the road as “one of the most dangerous in Northern Ireland”, adding that his conscience could not support the approval as it was “a matter of life and death”.

Opposition was also outlined by Lagan Valley MLA, Emma Little-Pengelly. She said: “I have been battling with DfI Roads Service for years on road safety measures, I am an expert on that. I have been told as there are road speed cameras that the level of traffic should be down on this road.

“There have been 788 speeding offences on this road in the first two years of operation and that was at a time of Covid when traffic volume was at an unprecedented low.”

Alderman Jim Dillon warned that there could be “heavy legal costs for the council” to pay if the planning committee should go against officials’ recommendation for approval.

In response, Castlereagh East councillor Martin Gregg (Alliance) alluding to the “threat of a judicial review” said: “We have to do the right thing, the true cost of refusing these plans will not be in money to the council, the cost will be measured in lives.