A council housing development in Newry woodlands has been refused due to nature conservation concerns.
The local authority’s planning committee approved a recommendation on Monday (January 10) to refuse the development opposite Daisy Hill hospital.
The Hospital Road application by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council included six houses, two apartment blocks and associated ancillary works.
However, an ecological appraisal found that the land in question would require the “removal of protected trees and would erode the existing natural heritage of the area”.
The agent, (NMDDC Estates and Project Management Department) for the proposal had claimed only one of the 20 protected trees would be affected, but the planning department did not accept that was the case in the “largely overgrown wooded area”.
The planning report to the committee noted permission had previously been granted in March 2022 for an associated similar site by the council nearby, on Daisy Hill for three houses.
