Planning permission approved for £17m civic centre

Planning permission has been granted for a £17m civic centre in Newry.

The Newry Mourne and Down District Council project has been the subject of extensive objection, including from the Catholic Church who are concerned about its proximity to the near 200 year old Newry cathedral.

The centre is part of a broader city regeneration scheme that includes a 15 acre park, a theatre and a road bypass and is supported by the Belfast Region City Deal.

The council say the wider scheme will increase vibrancy and footfall in the city centre and stimulate further investment.

Following Thursday's decision objectors say they will consider whether to judicially challenge the decision.

The project seeks to relocate 215 council staff in the city onto a single site on what's currently a multi-story car park in the Abbey Way area.

As the council operates a hybrid working model the building is expected to cater for 162 staff on a daily basis.

The building would provide space for council meetings, weddings, office and meeting rooms, and an innovation hub.

During the planning process the project has received more than 2,600 objections relating to traffic and parking, need, design, scale, flood and ecology concerns and the processing of the application.

A decision on planning approval has been deferred on a number of occasions.

In May, a proposed approval was deferred after objectors highlighted concerns in relation to the way the project's planning application had been submitted.

However, the overriding objection to the scheme has been in relation to the removal of car parking spaces adjacent to the city's cathedral and main shopping street, Hill Street.

The building, which is more than 5000 sqm would be around 45 metres from the cathedral.

On Thursday, the council's planning committee heard representations from the project's promoters and objectors.

The team behind the proposal said the project was sympathetic to the gothic style cathedral in terms of design and choice of materials.

It was highlighted that the current multi-story carpark where the building is to be located is poorly used and 136 spaces would be retained immediately adjacent.

Objectors say this isn't enough to cope with demand during weddings, communions and funerals at a near 200 year old Cathedral or to serve Hill Street businesses and shoppers.

Objectors have also questioned aspects of the project's planning application in terms of what they perceive to be errors, gaps and missing or outdated information.

However, planners said they were satisfied with the information provided and recommended approval.

Thursday morning's meetings were split in two.

An initial meeting hearing evidence in support and objection and a second meeting which saw planning committee members vote on the matter.

At the beginning of this second meeting committee members took legal advice in closed session.

When the meeting reopened, Alliance Cllr Cadogan Enright withdrew from the meeting.

"I think there's other councillors here should be doing the same," he said.

When put to a vote committee members approved the scheme by four votes to one with one abstention.

Outside the chamber, Sinn Féin's Cllr Declan Murphy said he believed the civic centre and the other regeneration schemes will drive investment.

"This has been scrutinised more than any other application that has been in front of me," he said.

"Everyone had their view heard. Our view was that we were satisfied with what has been proposed.

"Newry will be transformed over the next five years – with the civic centre, the southern relief road, the city park, the new theatre and streetscape a huge amount of public and private money is being invested.

"This will attract more investors to the area and it will be transformative," he added.

The SDLP's Cllr Declan McAteer agreed.

"That one part of Newry stood out to me as it was completely dead," he said.

"As it is it is an absolutely ugly carpark. We can put something in, a centre that people can focus on.

"The innovation hub also fills a gap on the Belfast-Dublin axis and will really put Newry on the map. And if there are problems around parking we can resolve them."

However, Canon Francis Brown from the cathedral said he was disappointed with the decision.

"All the parishioners are opposed to this building," he said. "It's far too close to the cathedral which is 200 years old. We're all very disappointed."

Andy Stephens of Matrix Consulting has been representing the objectors at planning meetings. He says consideration will now be given in relation to what happens next.

"It's not the end of the road," he said.

"Obviously there is a decision that has to be issued. We'll take a look at that and then take advice and see what the outcome of that advice is.

"The only remedies in Northern Ireland for third parties is to judicially challenge – there's no third party right of appeal like in the south. We've three months to launch those proceedings."