By Ryan Sands
A ROSTREVOR shorefront site at the centre of planning controversy in recent years has been sold.
Last Tuesday (3 March), Best Property Services posted online that they were ‘the proud selling agent of the 2.
5 acres of prime shorefront development land at the former Campbell’s garage site in Rostrevor, overlooking Carlingford Lough’, alongside an overhead image of the site marked ‘Sold’.
On the Shore Road location, which had a £2m asking price, the estate agents’ website highlighted that the site comes with planning permission for the development of 41 apartments and a 70-bedroom nursing home.
‘Many of the apartments have uninterrupted views over Carlingford Lough with some apartments benefiting from private outside space,’ it read.
‘The apartments range in size from 850 square feet to 1,432 square feet.
‘There has been strong demand in the area for new developments, with limited new schemes built in recent times and a lack of availability of zoned residential land.
‘There is a shortage of nursing home beds in the area and a strong demand for these services locally.
‘The sale of this site represents an excellent opportunity to acquire a unique development opportunity.
’ It was also stated that ‘the area is highly sought after locally and internationally and extremely well-located for the development of an exclusive residential scheme and nursing home’.
‘Nothing of this scale and specification has previously been built in the area, and demand will be very strong for the apartments and nursing home facilities,’ the website added.
‘There will undoubtedly be demand from those seeking second homes, alongside those occupying their home all year round.
’ Permission for the construction of the village apartments and nursing home was initially granted by the council’s Planning Committee in April 2017, eight years after the application was submitted; however, the full council subsequently took the highly unusual step of rescinding this.
The proposal was given the green light again in November 2017.
On both occasions permission was granted, councillors went against recommendations of refusal issued by planners in their professional reports.
A judicial review challenging the building of the development beside Rostrevor Oak Wood and the decision-making process of the council, brought by RARE (Rostrevor Action Respecting the Environment), was ultimately unsuccessful.
A 2021 Richland Waterfront Limited proposal for the site – for the demolition of the JC Campbell car sales and garage buildings, and their replacement with eight semidetached houses, four terraced houses and 33 apartments – was turned down by the Planning Committee two years later.
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