By Ryan Sands
Plans for a new community centre for Warrenpoint have been earmarked for refusal.
In June 2023, the council submitted an application for the ‘Warrenpoint Health & Wellbeing Hub’ to its own planners, who – ahead of next Wednesday’s (25 February) Planning Committee meeting – have published a recommendation that it be turned down.
While the Planning Department’s committee report has not yet been made available, a recent consultation response from the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) Roads highlights concerns about car parking at the proposed Clonallon Park facility.
It states that, following confirmation from planners that an additional 90 to 120 spaces are required – with the proposal currently including 34 spaces – ‘DfI Roads now considers the application unacceptable, as submitted’, adding that ‘insufficient detail’ has been provided on transportation issues.
The response, dated 19 January, continues: “Should Planning Service (council’s Planning Department) be minded to progress the application towards an approval, DfI Roads require the following points to be addressed: details to be provided where the additional car parking is to be located, as DfI Roads would have concerns how the shortfall could impact on the public road; and DfI Roads note use of primary school car park (St Dallan’s Primary School) – this would need to be detailed and would ask Planning if this is to be allowed, should it be within the site outlined in red (the application site)?”
On the basis of these issues remaining ‘outstanding’, it concludes that the proposal is contrary to policy in that, “if permitted, [it would] prejudice the safety and convenience of road users, since adequate provision cannot be made clear of the highway for the parking, turning, loading and unloading of vehicles that would be attracted to the site”.
Resolve Planning, the council’s agent for the application, subsequently submitted further information addressing these concerns. It argues that the Planning Department’s “position that a total of 104 to 154 spaces (i.e. an additional 90 to 120 spaces beyond those proposed) are required represents a significant overestimation” and maintains that there is “no specific parking standard for community centres”.
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