How To ObjectPlanners Understate Objections
Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council’s own planning reports repeatedly claim that there were “more than 360” or “more than 380” objections to the Quarterlands development.
However, when we carefully reviewed the Planning Portal record, the picture is very different. Our analysis shows 483 individual objection submissions. These are not guesses: they are taken directly from the Council’s own Planning Portal pages.
Objections by the Numbers
- 483 objections recorded on the Planning Portal
- 380+ objections acknowledged in planners’ reports
- 23 July 2025 — date of the most recent objection before the September 2025 committee
Even if the planners chose to discount subsequent objections from the same person or group — for example, the Quarterlands Group lodged multiple objections as new issues emerged over time — that does not explain the shortfall. The content of those objections was not identical, and each raised new matters that should have been taken into account.
Most importantly, the Planning Portal shows that fresh objections were still being uploaded as recently as 23 July 2025, well before the September 2025 committee meeting. The official reports make no mention of these later submissions.
Why This Matters
- The Council’s figure of “380+” significantly underplays the true level of public opposition.
- By compressing or ignoring legitimate submissions, they obscure the scale of community concern.
- Each objection, whether from an individual, a group, or via a pro-forma letter, is a representation that the Council is legally obliged to consider.
The difference between 380+ and 483 is not a rounding error. It is a failure to accurately reflect the strength of community opposition.
