Newtownabbey: approval for single-storey changing pavilion with fencing and landscaping at playing fields
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council’s Planning Committee has approved construction of a single-storey changing pavilion with fencing and landscaping at Three Mile Water Playing Fields, Doagh Road, in Monkstown, Newtownabbey.
The proposal was given the go-ahead by the committee at a meeting in Mossley Mill, on Monday evening.
Planning officer Johanne McKendry indicated that planning permission has already been granted for a post-primary school at Three Mile Water Playing Fields.
She pointed out the provision of new changing facilities by the borough council would result in loss of open space. No letters of objection were received. She added the design and lay-out of the proposed new pavilion building are considered “acceptable”.
Glengormley DUP Councillor Alison Bennington asked if there would be a sufficient number of changing rooms, particularly on Saturdays, when teams will be using the facility “from morning to late evening and probably followed by casual use”. “We need to have enough facilities,” she stressed.
The committee report stated: “The proposed changing rooms are to meet the IFA standards and will serve the upgraded facilities. The proposal therefore seeks to provide an enhanced community facility.”
It also said: “There are existing changing rooms on site currently, which are to be removed to facilitate the new school building.”
Barry Diamond, the counciil’s head of planning, pointed out this is a facility separate to the proposed school building.
Threemilewater DUP Councillor Sam Flanagan proposed accepting the recommendation to approve the application, seconded by Macedon Ulster Unionist Cllr Robert Foster and agreed unanimously.
In June, Education Minister Paul Givan cut the first sod of a £45m construction project for the new Abbey Community College at the Three Mile Water site. The Department of Education has said that construction is due to be completed in November 2027.
The school opened as Abbey Community College, in 2015, at Bridge Road, Newtownabbey, on the site of the former Monkstown Community School following its amalgamation with Newtownabbey Community High School.
Michelle Weir, Local Democracy Reporter