Nine glamping pods proposed for paintball facility outside Larne

The proposal is for holiday accommodation consisting of nine glamping pods on the site of a paintball facility, 250 metres from the junction with Deerpark Road.

A design and access statement says: “There is an existing access road via the Deerpark Road. The existing entrance to the paintball facility will serve the new glamping park.

“The glamping park is to be in the southern corner of the site, replacing one of the paintball zones leaving the rest of the site to be used for zoned paintball adventure games.

“The objective of this development is to achieve a high quality, yet small scale glamping park. The development will consist of a mixture of glamping pod types, all single storey small scale units, The proposed lay-out would provide for parking for one car for each pod."

The report stated: “The pods will be retained in tourism use and not used for permanent residential accommodation.”

The report continues: “A main issue to overcome will be the visual impact of the glamping pod structures on the character of the rural area.” However, it says “all nine units will be single storey and small footprint areas, spaced generously around the proposed glamping park”.

“In terms of visual impact, the main public viewpoints will be from the Larne Road, however given the speed of vehicles along this road, any views will be extremely limited, especially as the pods are set well back into the site.

“From the Deerpark Road, the visual impact will also be limited due to the new road lay-out and the surrounding topography and vegetation. The site and pods are also sufficiently set back from the lower Ballyboley Road and of such a scale and design to prevent any detrimental visual impact from this location.”