Translink plan to scrap train station car park for offices to get green light: Parking 'no longer required' after Lanyon Place 'downgraded'
A plan to get rid of a major Belfast train station’s car park and replace it with an office block is to get a green light – despite it going down like a lead balloon with the public, and issues being raised by both Stormont roads bosses and NI Water.
The car park at Lanyon Place train station contains over 150 spaces, but Translink plans would see it disappear, to be replaced with an eight-storey office building.
According to planning documents, busy Lanyon Place has been downgraded to “operate as a local station” now that the Belfast to Dublin Enterprise train has moved to the city’s Grand Central Station. As a result, say planning consultants, car parking at Lanyon is “no longer required”.
Under the current plans, there will be just 15 car parking spaces after the eight-storey block is built. Roads officials have raised misgivings, saying plans submitted so far don’t have enough detail on what will happen with disabled parking facilities and a pick-up and drop-off area, at a city transport hub that has four platforms for trains as well as bus and glider stops.
NI Water wants the development blocked, stating sewers in the area couldn’t cope with seven floors of offices plus ground floor retail and business units.
Nearby residents fear a combination of axing parking spaces and building offices will push commuters to park outside their homes, and in a survey Translink commissioned four out of five householders polled said they either disagreed or strongly disagreed with the idea.
The public transport firm, however, argues there’s a need for high-end office space in Belfast, and “best in class” new developments are in demand; the Lanyon Place project, they say, would fall into that category.
Consultants Arup state that Lanyon Place “has been downgraded by Translink to become a local rail station” that now only “provides connections” along the Bangor, Londonderry and Larne lines.
The downgrade puts it in a similar position to Belfast stations such as Botanic, City Hospital and York Street, argue the consultants, and none of those have much in the way of car parking.
Lanyon Place is much larger than any of those three, however; it has twice as many platforms, as well as a larger main building that offers food and drink outlets.
On Tuesday night, Belfast politicians are due to make a final decision on the scheme – and city council planners have concluded it should go ahead.
They say NI Water should be overruled, stating it would be “considered unreasonable” to withhold planning permission due to sewer capacity concerns as a condition could be imposed that would command Translink to hammer out a deal with water bosses.
Planners also state they’re still waiting on more communication from roads authorities, but say: “It is considered that the remaining issues will be overcome.”
Building an eight-storey office block would “make effective use of previously developed land and regenerate a site currently used for surface level car parking", say planners, adding the area is “a sustainable location for office development with excellent access to public transport, shops and services, providing opportunity to reduce the need to travel by private car.”