Holywood Exchange

Holywood Exchange is a major retail development on the borders of Belfast and Holywood, Northern Ireland. It is beside Belfast City Airport, in the townland of Knocknagoney. The site was previously known as D5 and Harbour Exchange. At present the development compromises an 11 unit 13,940 m² (150,000 ft²) retail warehouse centre with (as of December 2014); Harvey Norman, Next Home, Decathlon, and Wrights Sofaland. Located beside the retail warehouse is a Sainsbury's store and service station, a B&Q store, and an IKEA store. Like the expansion of the Sprucefield development, Holywood Exchange has been controversial and the subject of repeated planning problems and legal disputes.

Local firm Osborne King are letting agents for the scheme.

The first planning application for what was then known as D5 was made by Aquis Estates Limited, Anglia and General Developments Limited and Belfast Harbour Commissioners on 14 November 1995. A five-week public inquiry was held in December 1996 and January 1997. In 1997 the Planning Appeal Commission and the Department of the Environment's Planning Service recommended that approval should be granted. Formal planning permission was granted on 13 April 1999. On 21 June 1999 Belfast City Council and The Belfast Chamber of Trade and Commerce applied for judicial review of the decision to grant planning permission. On 9 July 1999 planning permission for D5 was quashed as it was judged that the Minister did not take the decision with all the relevant information.

Planning permission for the competing Tesco development on the opposite side of the A2 road had been granted on 28 November 1998. Following the quashing of planning permission for D5 its developers sought judicial review of the permission granted to Tesco, arguing that the same could apply to that development, however this was refused on 17 September 1999. This judgement was slightly controversial, given that the judge refused to rescind planning permission solely because the £13 million Tesco store was almost complete.

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