New row in Ballygally over hotel car park

Howard Hastings, managing director of the group that owns the Ballygally Castle Hotel, was responding to concerns expressed by village resident Muriel Harbinson this week.

Last month, the Hastings Hotel Group demolished the old boat house, which was a familiar feature on the shore side of the Coast Road. The move provoked an outcry among some residents and architectural campaigners, who felt the building had been part of Ballygally’s heritage.

Now work is underway to extend the car park opposite the hotel, using the boat house site.

A DoE spokeswoman confirmed that planners received an application on August 19 for retrospective approval to demolish the single-storey building and to extend the neighbouring retaining wall and car parking area belonging to Ballygally Castle Hotel, adding six spaces.

Mrs Harbinson has been angered by the recent turn of events. She said: “It appears the original planning application to restore the boat house has now been abandoned and this work to extend the car park has started without planning permission.

“It involved digging a vast hole to the beach and many people consider this unacceptable, as it is felt that there could be a danger from high tides undermining the Coast Road due to all the evacuation work.”

Mr Hastings has moved to allay such fears. He said: “The foundations at that site are just extraordinary and I think people can rest assured that there is no threat to the Coast Road from this development.”

The hotelier told the Larne Times that the car park extension would be a temporary feature and the company had “every intention” of building new accommodation on the site. He added: “However, we felt the time was not right for that at the moment and so we decided to temporarily extend the car park.”