A substitute site for Newry, Mourne and Down District Council’s (NMDDC) new civic centre has potentially been bought, putting an end to an Alliance party relocation campaign.
The local authority is due to approve plans for its new £17m Newry City civic centre at Abbey Way in November following a planning committee deferral earlier this month.
Just yards from Abbey Way, the former Lidl site on Castle Street beside the Bagenal’s Castle museum, was promoted in chambers by Alliance as a separate option for the new civic centre, as well providing carpark space to support the on site tourist attraction.
However, with an estimated asking price of £2m, the site is now under offer for purchase.
Downpatrick Alliance rep, Cadogan Enright spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) this week on his “governance concerns” at NMDDC as the ‘under offer’ sign went up on Castle Street.
Cllr Enright said: “I have written many times to the council over the last number of years on the need to buy the former Lidl site, which would save ratepayers somewhere between £5m to £10m compared to constructing a new building for the council civic centre.
“I have written a document on my governance concerns and raised it with the audit committee and the ombudsman’s office.
“It is my understanding that council management gained the asking price for the Lidl site, which a source has told me is in the region of £2m.
“But then the council management did not relay that price to elected members, and it is the councillors who are then making decisions on the civic centre plans without that information.
“This is either wilful negligence at best or working outside of governance practices at worst.”
He added: “If the council had bought the former Lidl shop, we would have had a site for development rather than trying to do a contentious new build with all the problems over parking, connecting to the power grid and water system as well as having to put on a bus for staff from across town for the next 30 years.
“I also believe it was crucial for the council to buy the site for the future of Bagenal’s Castle as a tourist attraction. At the moment we have only three carpark spaces there, which are hardly enough for the staff never mind visitors to the museum.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) asked the council if senior management had enquired about an asking price for the Lidl site after it went on the market in December 2023 and whether this information was shared with elected reps.
A council spokesperson said: “A comprehensive site selection exercise commenced in 2018 to consider all the potential sites within the Newry City core.
“This process considered a total of 33 public and privately owned sites, including the Lidl site at Bagenal’s Castle.
“This exercise identified the Abbey Way site, which is within council ownership, as the preferred location.
“The council does not own the other sites considered, therefore site acquisition costs would have been incurred if a privately owned site had been selected.”
Sales agent for the Lidl site, Lisney Commercial Real Estate was contacted for comment.
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