Co Down community hub gains deputy First Minister support amid village traffic concerns
A new Co Down community hub has been approved and received support from the deputy First Minister. The application by Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council (LCCC) was unanimously approved by its planning committee this week following an approval for a SuperValu development.
The Moira centre will be located at the Demesne Grove between a playpark and sports pitches, though some traffic concerns have been raised.
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Lagan Valley MLA Emma Little-Pengelly posted on Facebook: "Great to see the community hub proposals moving forward with the planning committee unanimously agreeing the plans on Monday (June 2). A huge amount of hard work by the community group and volunteers to get it to this stage."
A council officer said: "The community hub will be occupied by a charity. The site is accessed via the main entrance to Moira Demesne off Main Street, Moira. "The parking requirements are met from the use of existing car parks within the Demesne." Killultagh DUP Alderman, James Tinsley said: "This is a great addition to what is already at the playpark for the community and local school children, it is a fantastic application." An earlier application at the committee was also approved for a major upgrade of a retail park on Main Street. Concerns had been raised over long traffic jams of up to 2miles into Moira with extra car journeys of 50% at peak times due to the new SuperValu development. Lisburn North SDLP rep, Pat Catney was the only planning member not to support the application. The chamber was told that an overall increase or 'cumulative' traffic assessment in Moira had not been carried out as the additional traffic was viewed in the report as 'modest with a small impact'. This led to Cllr Catney, cautiously agreeing to the Moira hub, saying: "I just hope people can get through the village traffic to get to the hub."
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