By Ryan Sands
PLANS for a long-awaited community centre for Warrenpoint have been approved by councillors, despite planners recommending they be refused.
The council’s Planning Committee unanimously endorsed the application for the £7.4m Warrenpoint Health and Wellbeing Hub – lodged by the local authority in June 2023 – at its monthly meeting last Wednesday (25 February), citing the “substantial community benefits” the Clonallon Park facility would bring to the town.
A Planning Department report presented to the committee stated that it ‘does not dispute the need for a community hub’ and is ‘fully supportive of the need for such a facility in Warrenpoint’.
‘The range of facilities and the variety of internal open spaces on offer would hugely benefit the local community,’ it continued.
‘The site-specific need for this proposal at this location, however, must be balanced against the impact it would have on this protected area of open space.
‘On balance, the Planning Department considers that its proposed siting, within the main area of designated public open space in Warrenpoint – which is intended to serve the active and passive recreational needs of the present, future, local and wider population – is contrary to good planning, for the detailed reasons outlined in this report.
‘The need for an alternative site for this major proposal was raised with the applicant during the assessment process. ‘This was not pursued with the Planning Department by the applicant.’
