Two Northern Ireland MPs have clashed over plans for a hotel and spa complex on the outskirts of Portrush.
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council ultimately approved the planning application, which was presented at a Planning Committee meeting on Wednesday, August 28, and includes provision for a conference and banqueting facility, nine holiday cottages, a North West 200 visitor attraction and a demonstration restaurant on lands south of 120 Ballyreagh Road in Portstewart.
According to an officers’ report, the development would be accessed off the Ballyreagh Road by making improvements and relocating an existing access which serves 120 Ballyreagh Road, and would also involve the creation of a new driveway for the property via the proposed access road.
Speaking on behalf of residents of the nearby Ballygelagh village, TUV MP Jim Allister said officers had “led this committee into an approval which proved to be unlawful” in the past and were “setting them on the same course again”.
“In the last judicial review, Lord Justice McCloskey was very clear on the issue of access to this site,” Mr Allister said. ”And because this is a protected route the policy says you must use an existing access [so as] not to maximise the volume of traffic coming onto a protected route.”
“Lord Justice McCloskey was emphatic that that policy meant you must use an existing access; you could not enhance or relocate the existing access, you must use the existing access. That’s all set forth in his judgement.
“You’re asked today to approve an application based upon relocating and enhancing the access, in flagrant defiance of what the High Court told you was legally possible.
“Then I come to the most fundamental issue in terms of the environment, as this is a massive hotel project in the countryside, with total disregard to the countryside interests.
“By providing this vast, sprawling complex of urbanisation, you’re urbanising and creating the precedent that then will remain for further development.
“So I do say to you that this is not something which should be railroaded onto this sensitive site, with no thought to the ratepayers in Ballygelagh and their interests.”
Ferguson Planning‘s Tim Ferguson spoke on behalf of the applicants and stated that Lord Justice McCloskey did not say it was necessary to use an existing access or that an access could not be widened.
He added: “His concern was how the planning officer dealt with the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) Roads’ consultation in the report to committee.”
“Planning Policy Statement 3’s policy AMP 3 allows development onto a protected route where minor roads cannot be achieved and where the principle of the development is accepted.
“DfI roads have no objection, as they have reviewed the access arrangement and associate transport impacts and concluded the proposal is acceptable.
“The access arrangement has been amended since the court ruling and, to be clear, it is using an enlarged existing access.
“Wider objection matters of this proposal have shown that there is no significant impacts on this landscape or within regard to amenity.
“The landscape impacts have been tested in detail through 11 viewpoints and again show the proposal has no significant impact.
“This proposal also brings significant benefits to Portrush, Portstewart, and the entire north coast with at least 100 jobs, millions of pounds of construction investment, and a spend of over £4 million on employment, local produce and services.”
DUP MP Gregory Campbell also spoke in support if the applicants and argued that an increase in tourist accommodation was essential due to the 153rd Open golf tournament, which will be hosted by Royal Portrush Golf Course next year.
Mr Campbell said: “The last time we had the Open here [in 2019] it was very successful, there were almost a quarter of a million people here, and there was massive widespread publicity.”
“But good-quality hotel accommodation was not in plentiful supply on the north coast, and I presume a number of hotel applicants have taken note of that.
”The planning committee should take account of that when looking at whatever legitimate objections there are, but all of us in public life know there are legitimate objections and then there are politically-inspired objections.
“I have no hesitation saying that if this hotel was in Bushmills or Ballycastle, there would not be the same politically-inspired objections that there are to this one.
“So I hope that we can move at speed to provide what this part of Northern Ireland needs, which is good quality hotel accommodation to ensure that not just that next year’s Open is successful, but that the tourism industry is an outstanding success and we can develop it and go from success to further success.”
The council’s Development Management and Enforcement Manager, Shane Mathers, clarified that, by replacing an existing access with the new access, the overall objective of the policy is met as there is no additional access being created.
He concluded: “It doesn’t accord with the precise terms of the policy, but the recommendation of the Planning Department is it’s nonetheless acceptable because of its specific characteristics.”