Ballymena Hit Hard By Shop Vacancy Rates
The recent Lisney Property Report has revealed that town centre shop vacancies across Northern Ireland are as high as 19 per cent – with Ballymena hit hardest.
Compared to a UK average of 11.1per cent and 10.1 per cent in Scotland and 15.9 per cent in Wales* the previous year’s increase of 4.6 per cent has seen some towns impacted more than others.
Belfast has shown a marked improvement with overall shop vacancies down 5.9 per cent to 17.2 per cent overall. Other towns that have improved from last year include Enniskillen, Coleraine, Derry, Craigavon, Magherafelt, Newtownards and Portadown.
Towns with more empty shops than last year’s research include Bangor, Ballymena, Omagh and Newtownabbey.
In fact Ballymena’s retail unit vacancy rate has rocketed from 17.2 per cent in 2012 to 27.2 per cent this year.
Business rates continue to be the primary factor for deterioration in the level of occupancy on the prime pitch at present.
Whilst many towns have seen a rise in their local shop vacancy rate, Ballymena has been hardest hit in 2013 and the local businesses in the town centre are at odds with some of the council’s proposal’s for regeneration.
Ballymena Council’s proposed Public Real Vision has been vehemently opposed by local traders as it involves eradicating some 60 per cent of existing parking spaces on the busy Ballymoney Street,
More recently, a further threat to Ballymena’s retail businesses is the announcement that the Green Pastures Pentecostal Church, in the village of Galgorm, is planning a development including out or town retail.
The church has grown very quickly since its inception in 2007 and now has 1,000 members. However, its building, which houses offices, a three-storey soft play area for children and a gym is not big enough – which is why the church purchased a 97-acre site to the south of Ballymena for £4m earlier this year.
It is now planning to build housing, a hotel and a supermarket on the site to help pay for a new church building in Ballee.
