Ballycastle - Greenlight Gateway - Making a Positive Difference

My old friend Danny McGill tells me that Greenlight Gateway in Ballycastle can now transform empty wine bottles into works of art and these can be converted to cash, cash that will benefit the tremendous work of Greenlight Gateway. If you can assist this or any other project please contact them at their premises on Leyland Road, Ballycastle.

Making a difference in the community through helping these young people achieve a sense of worth in recycling, organic vegetable plot, garden centre and coffee shop.

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service Main Award Committee Chair and former broadcast journalist Martyn Lewis CBE said,

“Outstanding volunteer groups across the UK all too often go without recognition for the truly amazing work they do, despite the vital part they play in helping bind our communities together. It’s a great pleasure to celebrate the efforts of Greenlight Gateway with The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service and help raise awareness of all they do for the benefit of others.”

It's heart-warming to be able to report that making a difference in the community can be for the benefit of others, not just for oneself.

As an aside, a Facebook friend tells me she's looking forward to a White Christmas - and when the white is finished she'll start on the red!!

Portballintrae Salmon Green - Bulldozed

Updated January 18, 2011

The coastal strip that contains Salmon Cottage, the Ice House and the Salmon Green together with the adjacent lands on the seaward side of Beach Road lies within the village’s statutory development limit.  Paragraph 20.3 of NEAP confirms that the settlement limit has been kept tight despite the pressures for development  “because otherwise the charm of this small fishing port would be compromised or lost”.  

click Picasa Album

Other features, although not explicitly referred to under Designation PEL 01 but which nevertheless contribute to the quality and character of the proposed [Bushfoot] LLPA include (i) the historic  landscape incorporating Salmon Cottage, the scheduled Ice House and the Salmon Green; (ii) the area’s contribution to the landscape setting of Portballintrae; and (iii) the important public views afforded by the open character of the area within which the appeal sites are located.

I have not been convinced that the intended safeguarding of the scheduled monument and its use for storage purposes, although important, would represent an exceptional circumstance that warrants redevelopment of either the Salmon Cottage site or part of the Salmon Green for  residential purposes.

Such a  course of action, if permitted, would destroy much of the intellectual understanding of the village’s historic fishery complex including the functional setting of the monument notwithstanding the nature of the design concept as illustrated on the submitted plans.  In my judgement, the balance must fall in favour of maintaining that understanding and, as a consequence, I find that the first draft refusal reason based on PPS 6 Policy BH 1 is sustained in each appeal case insofar as it relates to the integrity and setting of the Ice House. .. PACNI report 2006

Is the planting of a hedge around the site not contrary to "important public views afforded by the open character of the area within which the appeal sites are located"?

Another project in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. And a Ministerial reaction. Another very curious business further along the Antrim coast. And another for those who want to look on the Blackside. I wonder what all these stories have in common.

Conveyance between Dundarave Estates Limited and Megan Carol Sweeney 

Dated 30 April 2009

Registry of Deeds 17 July 2009

2. The Purchaser for herself her executors administrators and assigns of the premises hereby conveyed hereby covenants with the Vendor and its successors in the to the Vendor's other hereditaments and premises situate in Portballintrae capable of being benefited by this covenant as follows:-
2.1      not to develop the premises hereby conveyed in any manner,
2.2      to maintain the premises hereby conveyed in their current state,
2.3      to use the premises hereby conveyed as open land as amenity to the premises comprised in the First 2005   Conveyance and the Second 2005 Conveyance,
2.4      not to fence the premises hereby conveyed.

How do the recent erection of a hedge around the boundary of the property and the bulldozing impact on the terms of this conveyance?


Coleraine Borough Council Planning Committee - 11 November 2008

The opinion of the Planning Service was to approve the new plans for the Salmon Cottage site. What consideration was given to the views and recommendations expressed by the PACNI Commissioner? A motion to recommend refusal was narrowly defeated by the Planning Committee.

Ballycastle and the Mystery of Coalyard Cottage

A Very Curious Business

UPDATED DECEMBER 3
[Click images to enlarge]

The mainstream media mistakenly presented the former Coalyard/Old Salt Pans Cottage on Carrickmore Road, Ballycastle, as a Marconi residence.

Ms McMath stated that this application was recommended for refusal due to the application being contrary to Policy CTY1 no justification for the replacement of this vernacular building and 5 of PPS14, no justification for the replacement of the building, worthy of retention and unacceptable visual impact. .. Moyle Council Minutes 31.03.08

Some months later and two days before Christmas 2008 what appear to be the same plans were nodded through Moyle District Council in a bundle of plans recommended for approval; three days before New Year Coleraine Planning Sub-Office granted official approval. I wonder if the Council has subsequently changed its procedures so that there's no re-occurrence of such a practice.

The architectural sketch shows that the existing stone wall on the south side was to have been retained/refurbished yet it was tumbled and a new concrete wall was erected and stone clad instead.

The Northern Ireland Environmental Agency had to intervene when rocks were removed from the foreshore.

According to Coleraine Chronicle, November 25, 2010 a Roads Service representative said: "We have given the builder temporary and courteous approval to make the site safe. He assured me it wouldn't be permanent. I can confirm that as of today (Monday) with further conversations it is his intention to remove the barriers this week". What about the more permanent looking heavy metal gates that straddle this public road? Were they erected and closed before or after the Roads Service gave approval for the road to be blocked? Will they be removed too? [They've been removed]

The photo shows that the road has been blocked off at the edge of the garden wall with a landscaped embankment. Was Roads Service approval sought or given? Should a public agency wish to restore part of the old tram track on the Fair Head side to make it a little more accessible for walkers there is now apparently no provision for vehicular access.

There are a series of ancient saltworks on the foreshore alongside Carrickmore Road; one of them is located at the north-east corner of this property. There's a strong possibility that these could form part of the proposed Atlantic Salt Trail and become an additional key tourism feature in Moyle alongside Bushmills Distillery, the Giants Causeway and Carrickarede Rope Bridge. Have Moyle District Council and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board made contingency plans, including access arrangements, to facilitate this prestigious European project?

Where were the guardians of this Area of Special Scientific Interest whilst the above works were in progress?

Added December 3

Access to the countryside is primarily the responsibility of District Councils but I sometimes wonder if Moyle Council is more likely to facilitate restriction of access than to act in the wider public interest.

Councils can create new Rights of Way by agreement with owners or by order. I'm told that the road now known as Carrickmore Road was formerly known as Colliery Road and that this accommodation road serving the collieries and saltworks ran at least as far as Carrickmore. It's marked on the 1830s OS and earlier maps. A short part of this road just past Coalyard Cottage/Old Saltpans is covered by a landslip. I'm told that there is at least one style across a fence on the road to Carrickmore. I'm also told that the new landscaping which acts as a barrier on the road has created a significant degree of anger locally.

Will the possibility of Ballycastle being on the prestigious Atlantic Salt Trail be contained in the report to council on December 13? The Council meeting begins at 7 pm. I'm told that one of the saltworks is adjacent to Colliery Road at Carrickmore.

Moyle Council has just forwarded an NIEA response to the alterations:

This office has never received a consent application for this, although planning permission was granted for the redevelopment of the house at 40 Carrickmore Road in 2008 ( Planning Ref: 2006/0256/F ). The house itself is outside Ballycastle Coalfields ASSI, although the designation surrounds it.

The response makes no mention of the action NIEA intends to take with regard to this and related matters, some of which have been recorded in NALIL blog and other places.

Added December 4

The Ballycastle Stuff Facebook link has brought new readers to this story from home and abroad; it also provides an opportunity for a exchange of views on public v private access, vagaries of the planning process, the role of elected representatives and the ability of public agencies to enforce regulations.

Added December 14

Access along Colliery Road

Earlier articles: 'Marconi Cottage' Gaffe; Not Marconi's Cottage - The Sequel; Not Marconi's Cottage III; Some PR History; Stone Cladding.

Rathlin Ferry Saga - the Mac Cormaic Letter, 14 August 2008

Rathlin Ferry Saga - the Mac Cormaic Letter, 14 August 2008

Tithe Saoire Chleire Teoranta Accounts for 2001 and 2002. Can Dublin and Belfast civil servants explain why the figures for 2001 are not identical in each for the same accounting year period? Can DCEGA (formerly DCRGA) explain why this discrepancy is not reflected in its endorsement of the ferry operator? Was the detailed scrutiny of these accounts not part of the tendering processes in both Dublin and Belfast? Is Dublin submitting the current tenders for the new Cape Clear contract to rigorous financial and other important checks?