Planning application for houses and pocket park at Coleraine's New Market Street

The application is for the demolition of vacant buildings at New Market Street, the erection of the dwellings across two blocks, and the creation of a new “pocket park”.

An accompanying Planning and Design statement noted that there is a large public car park to the north of the site, separated by Dirty Lane, negating the need for parking provision at the site.

“There is no cohesive or distinctive character to the immediate area,” the statement said “with buildings being a mix of two and three-and-a-half storeys in height along New Market Street.

“There are a number of recent apartment building developments of scale in the immediate area, including the apartment building on Society Street that backs onto the same public car park as the subject site.

“The main element of shared/communal amenity space provision is the proposed enhanced pedestrian link that will be converted into a “pocket park” area, with pedestrian links.

“The proposal will result in planning gain, as it includes the retention of a pedestrian route and its enhancement, to create a town centre park that will provide some new public amenity space that can also be used by future residents.

“The proposed development will result in a quality residential environment in an area that will benefit from redevelopment.”