Over 120-house development proposed for Ballyclare

New traffic lights in Ballyclare town centre are part of a planning application lodged with Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council for a 124-house development.
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The building proposal comprises a mix of detached, semi-detached, townhouses and apartments including conversion of existing stone barns with the main access from Ballycorr Road and further access from Ballyeaston Road.

The application includes “congestion alleviation measures” such as a parking lay-by on Ballycorr Road and “signalisation” of the Rashee Road/Ballyeaston Road junction in Ballyclare.

Ballyclare Ulster Unionist Councillor Vera McWilliam said that any measure to ease traffic congestion in Ballyclare town centre is to be welcomed.

Ballycorr Road. (Pic by Google).Ballycorr Road. (Pic by Google).
Ballycorr Road. (Pic by Google).

According to the Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan 2015, almost 25 hectares of land have been zoned for housing on the site of the former Craighill basalt quarry at Ballycorr Road overall.

The Plan says that public infrastructure and road improvements are expected to include provision for cycle and pedestrian links to Ballyeaston Road and Ballycorr Road.

Last week, the borough council’s Planning Committee approved the go-ahead for a £10m housing development to the west of Ballyclare.

Councillors gave the green light for the construction of 57 houses which is the next phase of a major building proposal in the area. The application for a site at Doagh Road will consist of 27 detached, 22 semi-detached and eight detached bungalows with garages.

On Friday, Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd issued a Notice of Opinion to approve for 699 residential units, public spaces and completion of the northern section of the Ballyclare Relief Road. The minister has decided that consent should be granted.

The proposals take in lands adjacent to the north-west of Ballyclare extending from Rashee Road close to its junction with Cogry Road continuing across to the north of Ross Avenue/Clare Heights and north and west of Ballyclare Rugby Club to the north of Doagh Road.

According to NI Water, half of Northern Ireland’s sewers will be full by 2027 and  wastewater treatment works in more than 100 areas across Northern Ireland “are at or rapidly approaching full capacity and where NI Water is unlikely to be able to accept additional sewer connections”.

The application for the next housing construction phase of housing at Ballycorr Road states: “No dwelling shall be occupied until either a main sewerage connection is agreed with NI Water or the development is served by a package sewage treatment plant site

“The package plant shall be decommissioned and the development connected to a public sewer within six months of the planning authority notifying the appellant that the waste water treatment plant has been upgraded.”

Michelle Weir, Local Democracy Reporter

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