Castlewood Apartments

The Castlewood ‘Apart Hotel’ comprised 36 no. 2 bed apartments situated in the private grounds of the Castle Upton Estate in Templepatrick, adjacent to the Hilton Hotel.

The original grant of planning permission from 2000 carried with it a condition requiring that the approved units could only be occupied as holiday lettings and only in association with the adjacent hotel. A restrictive covenant was also in place whereby the apartments could not be let out for less than 7 days

This scenario proved to be economically unviable despite significant investment over a number of years. Therefore, on behalf of our client, we submitted a change of use application to allow permanent residential occupation of the apartments, including additional car parking and construction of footway to link in Paradise Walk.

Issues Encountered

• Conditions on original approval that accommodation had to be for holiday letting only in association with the hotel
• Restrictive covenant that the apartments could not be let out for less than 7 days
• Development is outside the settlement limit
• Argument that this would be a loss of a tourist asset
• Application of the exceptional circumstances clause located within the Policy CTY1 of PPS21
• Recommended by case officer for refusal

Our Involvement

We carried out an extensive lobbying campaign with the local MP and MLAs in the South Antrim constituency, as well as local councillors from the Airport DEA in Antrim & Newtownabbey Borough Council. This was on the basis that the only way to secure the future of the apartments and prevent the complex falling into a state of disrepair was to approve the application.

We also project managed a multi-disciplinary report which considered alternative uses for Castlewood Apartments. The report had input from our own Planning Consultants as well as Architects, Quantity Surveyors, Charted Property Surveyors, Accountants, Tourism Consultants and Estate Agents. This further bolstered our argument as to the appropriateness of our proposal.

The outcome of our work was cross party support from all elected representatives in the area, many of whom spoke in support of the application at the two Planning Committee meetings where the application was considered.

The Planning Committee approved the planning application in October 2017, overturning the case officers recommended refusal. The owner was then able to place the apartments on the market.