Planners approve 130 home development for Ballinderry area

An Bord Pleanála has granted permission for a major housing development that will bring 130 housing units to Ballinderry.

Set for location opposite Newtown Lawns, the new estate is to comprise 94 houses and 36 apartments, and artist impressions showing how the finished development is to look can be seen at ballinderryshd.ie.

Behind the project is Steinfort Investments Fund (a wholly owned sub-fund of Consdorf Investments ICAV).

Four submissions on the application were made by interested observers to An Bord Pleanála; one of these included a petition with 75 signatures.

The development is to go on what is largely an agricultural field that contains a vacant house. It is bounded to the north by Chestnut Drive; to the northeast by a row of detached houses fronting Ballinderry Road, and by agricultural fields to the west and south. To the east the site has frontage on the Ballinderry Road.

In their explanation of the mix of house and apartment types, the developers say there are to be 36 apartment/duplex dwellings accommodated in five blocks and 94 houses in semi-detached and terraced format.

The buildings will range in height from 2 to 2.5 storeys (including some that incorporate attic floor living space).

In the submissions, concerns were raised over a variety of issues including the density of the development and the increase in traffic congestion as well as the fact that the duration of the construction period is to be four years.

Also raised by one of the observers was the claim that the site is extremely wet and marshy and so contained a high variety of associated fauna. The observer also made the point that it is enclosed on four sides by natural hedgerows/ habitats for birds.