Bovally homes to get the green light?

Around 1,000 concerned residents have signed a petition opposed to a planned housing development in the Bovally area of the town, which they say will deprive children of a safe space to “kick a ball or fly a kite.”

Those who signed the petition say that the area, which is just off Petrie Place near the Edenmore Road, should be used as a public space rather than for the development of 115 houses as outlined in the planning application.

The Environment Minister, Alex Attwood, has now said that despite what he calls “a substantial level of public objection” his Department is “constrained”. He also stated that there is a “legal expectation of approval.”

The Minister explained how plans for a housing development in an area originally zoned as public space were rejected by planners in 2005, a decision that has since been appealed.

The Planning Appeals Commission later granted approval to an outline of the plans, stating that “the site had been zoned (as an open space) for over 20 years... but that Limavady Borough Council had never put firm proposals to provide playing fields in place”.

Another reason was that the council had “objected to the proposed Open Space zoning... on the basis that it should be developed for housing”.

Mr Attwood added: “The concept plan that accompanied the outline application had indicated a playing field, pavilion, children’s play area and kick about area, and riverside walk. However, the conditions did not set out any timeframe for the provision of the open space and facilities nor was there any requirement that these be developed concurrently with other elements of the concept plan such as the housing.”

One concerned resident, Gareth Dallas, spoke about his fears for children’s safety and about what he sees as the potential for the area now designated as an “open space” in the planning application to become a hub of anti-social behaviour.

He said: “We have already had three murders on the Blackburn Path – that’s what we would say to the idea of the Riverside Walk included as the open space in the planning application. It is at the bottom of a big, sloping hill; away from any houses and with an off-licence at the bottom of it.”

Mr Dallas said that the people living in and around the Edenmore Road and Petrie Place had been led to believe that the entire area subject to the planning application would be zoned as a public space.

He said: “There is not one open space in the area and there must be around a thousand houses. The 115 houses are planned for a fairly substantial field on one side of the homes and everybody was on the understanding that they would be used as a space for children to kick a ball, play cricket or fly a kite.”

Another concerned resident, Steven Hamill, recently told the Sentinel about the safety issues children are faced with every day, living in an area with no play area for children. He said: “There is nowhere for the children to play and when you drive around you can see how dangerous it is. People have to slow the cars to less than five mile an hour and even then.

“More houses would mean more kids and more traffic. You’ve got the whole area to the left of Edenmore Road and all the residents have been waiting to see when a play area would be going in to that space and they are now adding to the problem with extra houses.”

The Sentinel reported on the resident’s fears at the beginning of September, and the issue has now been raised at Stormont. DUP MLA George Robinson asked the Environment Minister Alex Attwood “why planners have made no provision for open spaces in the Bovally area of Limavady, despite the high number of new houses being built in the area?”

The Minister provided a detailed response, outlining changes in planning legislation dating back to 1989.