Work to start 'straight away' on Newtownabbey care home, filling station and apartments after application approved
A reserved matters application for a proposed development at Hightown Road, Glengormley, was approved at a meeting of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council’s Planning Committee, at Mossley Mill, on Monday (May 19).
The planned development includes a care home, petrol filling station and local neighbourhood supermarket as well as an apartment block with four units.
The application is seeking realignment of an access road previously approved on land to the south of Hightown Road and 30 metres east of Holly Manor and Hollybrook Manor, Glengormley.
Planning officer Alicia Leathem told the committee the principle of development has been accepted previously.
The officer went on to say 10 letters of objection have been received by the planning department highlighting concerns over potential traffic generation, noise disturbance, odour and parking. She noted there were no objections from statutory consultees.
Planning agent Carol Gourley reminded that planning permission was approved in March 2023. She said the proposal “complies with all conditions”.
Raising Concerns
She noted that of 54 neighbours, ten letters of representation were received raising concerns over safety and security of the site with regard to the care home, once operational.
She went on to say the applicant, Conway Estates, owns 12 health care facilities, employing 1,200 people and has been operational for more than 35 years.
“The benefit of care homes contributes overall to enhancing the quality of life for older people in our community,” the agent commented.
She indicated work is due to commence “straight away” with completion expected in 2027. She added the planned development will lead to the creation of 450 jobs overall.
In response to a query about street lighting from Glengormley Sinn Fein Councillor Rosie Kinnear, the agent said there will be a lighting link to Hightown Road.
Macedon Ulster Unionist Cllr Robert Foster commented: “Twenty per cent of people objecting is not a small number.” The agent said there are “maybe four or five” different objectors.
Cllr Foster went on to ask about potential noise creation and queried anticipated decibel levels on the site. He was advised if it exceeds a level, environmental health can investigate.
He continued: “Surely people living in the care home will become a receptor?”
Cllr Foster added that an anticipated level of 52 decibels is “an extremely low level of noise”. He remarked that a car engine on its own would measure 80 decibels.
Dunsilly Sinn Fein Cllr Henry Cushinan asked if a receptor could be someone in their garden or house with a window open or closed.
Barry Diamond, the council’s head of planning, said it could be measured at a particular height within a building or property but added it “normally relates to inside a resident’s home itself”.
Threemilewater Alliance Alderman Tom Campbell proposed moving the recommendation to approve, seconded by Cllr Cushinan. Following a vote, the application was approved unanimously.
Michelle Weir, Local Democracy Reporter