Major opposition to apartment plans near Carrickfergus Castle

There has been major opposition to the development of a £13.5m apartment block near Carrickfergus Castle, a major tourist attraction in County Antrim.

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council approved plans which would transform the former Swift complex at the waterfront in the town last month.

Almost 1,000 objections were made to the council, including concerns about the impact on the conservation area and a perceived lack of need for more apartments.

A council officer told the committee there were 19 letters of support and that matters were "carefully considered". BBC News NI contacted the developer but they said they had no comment to make.

Rhiannon Crawford owns a coffee cart near the castle and said the development plan was the "talk of the town".

"A lot of people are very against it," she said.

"There's a lot of apartments about here. I get that it is a really good location for apartments because the views would be amazing, but something more useful could go in."

Crawford suggested that the area could have been turned into a tourist visitors' centre, mainly for the days the castle is not open.

"The castle is closed on Mondays, so when it's closed there could be something there for them," she said.

"There are a lot of apartments about and we think that it could have gone to a better use."

However, Michael McNally said the current building was "a bit of an eyesore".

He has no problems with the plans to develop the site into apartments.

"At the end of the day people have to live somewhere," he said, adding that the building had been "sitting like that there for so long now, it's just becoming a bit of an embarrassment".

"Unless somebody comes up with a better idea, at the minute anything's better than that."

The application was lodged by an agent on behalf of Massereene Developments Ltd based in Belfast.

It includes plans for 33 apartments within three-and-a-half storey buildings and the demolition of the existing building to the east of Rodger's Quay.

Many of the objectors raised concerns about the apartments' proximity to Carrickfergus Castle.

The planning committee also heard objections about the height of the proposed buildings and fears of traffic congestion. It was believed that the site would be better suited for community, tourism or leisure facilities.

The council's planning committee had rejected previous proposals for the demolition of the site for apartments.

A planning officer told the council there were 19 letters of support and the development would not result in any unacceptable impact on the character or appearance of the area.

Alliance assembly member Stewart Dickson said the decision to build apartments on the site was "disappointing".

He said the site was "in a very important part of Carrickfergus on the harbour, overlooked by the castle".

Dickson said he was "not really convinced" that building apartments was "an appropriate use of a very valuable site in Carrickfergus which could have been used for so many other things, both for the community and for visitors to the town".

"But, regrettably, the planning service have their rules and those rules had to be followed in this particular set of circumstances," he added.

Dickson said it had highlighted the issue of dereliction which was "a major issue for lots of our towns".

"But it also deals with the issue of planning rules and the failure for individuals who want to complain about a planning application that's been approved. There's no third-party right of appeal in Northern Ireland," he said.

Ulster Unionist Party assembly member John Stewart said it was "a prominent and historic site and simply not appropriate for apartments".

"It is particularly disheartening that any opportunity for this location to be developed as a meaningful community or tourism asset now appears to be lost," he said.

Stewart who attended and spoke at the planning meeting later said the decision raised "serious questions about whether local voices are truly being reflected in 'local' democratic decision-making".

BBC News NI contacted Mid and East Antrim Borough Council about the concerns.

In response, it said that following a "detailed planning application process" the plans were approved by the committee last month.