South Belfast residents have won their battle with the Irish Football Association and Tesco over the creation of a Lidl supermarket complex beside Windsor Park.
Blackstaff Residents Association, local politicians and others supported the Lidl complex plan, while the football association and Tesco supermarket voiced objections. The IFA are responsible for Windsor Park.
At this week’s meeting of the Belfast City Council Planning Committee, elected representatives approved the application by Lidl Northern Ireland for the erection of a discount supermarket, drive through cafe, landscaping, car parking, and associated site works on vacant lands at the access road to Olympia Leisure Centre directly opposite 9-15 Boucher Road, Belfast.
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The council originally received thirty-two representations on the application, including 30 letters of support, including those from the residents association, as well as two objections, one from the IFA, the other from the Linfield pitch, Midgley Park.
The council report states a further letter of objection came from Tesco stating that the application site was an “unsustainable location for the proposed development.” Tesco said that the walking catchment areas for customers were too great at 400m, 1km and 2km.
The report states Lidl in reply questioned the catchment area claims by Tesco, stating their proposal “will significantly benefit the residents of the Blackstaff Ward, all of which is within the 400m walk-in catchment and the majority within the 800m walk-in catchment.” The report states Lidl claimed the proposal would also “benefit residents of the Windsor Ward, which also has a higher proportion of households (41 percent) without access to a car than both the Belfast and NI average.”
Botanic DUP Councillor Tracy Kelly told the Planning Committee: “We have no Lidl in South Belfast, and this application was very much welcomed by the constituents, and long overdue in their opinion. As someone who grew up in the local area, I have watched shop after shop close in this community, especially around the Donegall Road/ Sandy Row area. These areas were once thriving with shops for locals.
“Residents at present don’t have a discount supermarket within walking distance. To get to Lidl the majority often go to West Belfast, where they have on offer an Asda, a Sainsburys and a Lidl, all beside each other. I don’t feel Tesco is within walking distance to a lot of people in the local community.
“The investment to the area and the jobs it will bring are very much welcome. The community next to this site is under neighbourhood renewal with the Department for Communities, and I don’t have to explain what that means, but an affordable shopping facility will be very much welcome.”
She added: “The objections that have come in are disappointing. The community beside Windsor Park have always been very supportive, and the IFA putting in an objection to a supermarket, that will bring so much good to this community, was just so disappointing to hear.
“If we go on the logic that it is going to cause conflict, then I don’t think we’ll ever build anything on this site, because anything that is built is going to have some kind of traffic.”
The council and the IFA were at odds with each other during the Planning Committee over the Boulevard outside Windsor Park, which belongs to the council. The IFA have been granted limited control of the Boulevard before, during and after major events only.
A representative for the IFA told the Planning Committee: “The IFA is not against the principle of the development as proposed. But they do have worries about how the stadium will be able to operate and how the uses will co-exist without impacting on the operations of the stadium. And most importantly, the need to be able to maintain a safe environment around the stadium during all events.”
She added: “Under the overarching agreement between Belfast City Council and the IFA, both parties have responsibility for the safety of spectators during all events. We welcome Lidl’s acceptance of the measures proposed for major events as this reflects the terms of the lease agreement with the council.
“However it is our view the council has failed to properly relay the obligations set out in the overarching agreement to Lidl, and this is important as that agreement applies to all events.
“In practical terms, there has in the past been occasions where the IFA’s Safety Officer has had to take control of the Boulevard area onto the Boucher Road to facilitate the swift egress of visitors in the case of an emergency or in the case where different groups of spectators have to exit the grounds via different routes. This can be the case where the event is classified as major or not.”
She said this was “not currently reflected in the lease agreement between Lidl and Belfast City Council or in the site management plan being prepared between the three parties.”
She added: “This is important and we would draw attention to an incident that occurred after the end of the league cup final which was held at the stadium on Sunday March 12th.
“Whilst spectators were exiting via the designated routes IFA stewards attempted to stop vehicles moving along the Boulevard to ensure safety. However a patron from the Olympia Leisure Centre ignored the request of the stewards and proceeded to drive along the Boulevard whilst spectators were leaving, causing a safety risk.”
She added: “The council’s own Technical Safety Officer was also present on that day and witnessed these events and has since acknowledged that the IFA’s Safety Officer should be given control of the Boulevard at all matches.”
They requested that the agreement between all parties be updated so that the IFA’s Safety Officer should be given control of the Boulevard at all matches before any planning permission was granted.
The City Solicitor Nora Largey said: “What transpired on Sunday (March 12th) is that the established procedures that are in place in relation to major events were not followed. And it was not followed, it would appear, by IFA.”
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