By Ryan Sands
PLANS to transform Hilltown’s oldest building into a new community space have been earmarked for the green light.
The Clonduff Development Enterprise proposal to restore St John’s Parish Church on the village’s Main Street was submitted in October 2022 and will go before the council’s Planning Committee, with an approval recommendation attached, next Wednesday (30 April).
As well as the restoration of the former Church of Ireland building, an ‘interior reconfiguration to provide flexible community space, including a café and office space’ and alterations to the external perimeter wall to facilitate pedestrian access have been proposed.
The development required the submission of two separate applications – one seeking full planning permission and the other consent to carry out works on a listed building.
A committee report notes that the Grade B1 listed building has ‘been vacant from the 1980s’ and is ‘situated on a prominent crossroads’.
Read the full story in the current issue of the Mourne Observer.
