NESBITT IN PLANNING WRANGLE COUNCIL UNHAPPY AT DESIGN OF PORTRUSH HOUSE
A PROPERTY firm owned by TV star James Nesbitt is at the centre of a planning row over the design for a plush new pad on Co Antrim’s north coast.
Planning committee members at Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council have recommended refusing permission for a luxury house, which is almost complete, being constructed in Portrush.
The original application submitted in October 2016 was in- itially rejected after neighbours expressed concerns over a bedroom window overlooking their property.
Designs were redrawn to remove the window and the application was re-submitted by London-based property developer Nesbro Ltd in September 2017 before being given the green light.
However earlier this year the firm, which is co-directed by the Ballymena-born Cold Feet star, submitted updated plans — which included a first-floor balcony with the controversial window back in the frame. The Coleraine Chronicle reported that Nesbitt’s agent claimed the property was only redesigned to bypass the council’s planning committee and that it always intended to reinstate the original plans under “permitted development rights”.
The local authority has acknowledged it should have made the window removal a formal condition before granting approval.
“In not doing so, the fall-back position allows the developer to revert to the previous approval and then carry out an alteration post the building being substantially complete to install the window,” a council report states.
It also acknowledges concerns over what it describes as the “direct and intrusive” overlooking of a neighbouring house which it considers to be “unacceptable”.
Councillors set to vote on the updated application this week have been urged to give greater weight to the “significant harm” caused by the window.
The Coleraine Chronicle also reported that Nesbitt’s agent has branded the report as “factually inaccurate and imbalanced” adding that few households can avoid being overlooked by some degree.
They expressed hope that the matter can be resolved by inserting a condition to have the window obscured.
It has also been reported that Mr Nesbitt’s agent has lodged a formal complaint over the council’s handling of the application.
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council and James Nesbitt’s representatives did not reply with comment.