Farm dwelling at Lands 30m Southwest of No. 17 Barrons Hill, Camlough, Newry

The site and surroundings

The site is an agricultural field outside settlement limits, surrounded by rural housing, farmland, a road and farm buildings.

“Date of Site Visit: 13/10/2025 Characteristics of the Site and Area The proposed site consists of a large agricultural field along the Barron Hill Road. It is located within the ward of Whitecross, outside any settlement limits as defined within the Banbridge / Newry and Mourne Area Plan 2015.”

“The surrounding area contains a mixture of rural housing and agricultural fields. The character of surrounding dwellings is predominantly 1 or storey and half detached dwellings with traditional design elements found in the countryside dispersed along Newry Road. The site has agricultural fields located towards the South and dwellings located toward the West and North, Barron Hill road is situated along the Eastern boundary.”

Officer report

Earlier planning history

An earlier application for a farm dwelling and detached garage was approved in 2012, and other applications were identified on the farm holding.

“Application – P/2012/0162/O Proposal – Site for dwelling and detached garage (farm dwelling) Decision – Approval Date – 02/07/2012”

“CTY 10 – Dwellings on Farms Planning permission will be granted for a dwelling house on a farm where all of the following criteria can be met: a) The farm business is currently active and has been established for at least 6 years. DAERA have confirmed in their response that the farm business has been in existence for more than six years (allocated 09/12/1991) and that the farm business has claimed payments in each of the last 6 years.”

Officer report

Consultation and representations

Roads and heritage consultees raised no objection subject to conditions or policy compliance, and no neighbour objections or other representations were received.

“Representations: 1 neighbour within close proximity of the site was notified on 26/09/2025. This application was advertised in the local press on 20/08/2024. No objections or representations have been received to date. Letters of Support 0.0 Letters of Objection 0.0 Petitions 0.0 Signatures 0.0 Number of Petitions of Objection and signatures…”

Officer report

Who spoke

The agent spoke in support and said the proposal met the farm dwelling criteria but faced refusal under a different policy.

Members’ debate

A councillor questioned the ribbon-development concern, while two councillors said the farm dwelling criteria were met and proposed approval.

“Councillor D Murphy stated that Barron’s Hill was a rural road with minimal traffic and questioned who it would be offending under CTY8.”

“Councillor Larkin proposed to overturn the recommendation to an approval as the application met all criteria of CTY10. Councillor Hanna concurred that CTY10 was fully met and seconded the proposal.”

Minutes

The committee’s decision

The committee approved the application, contrary to the officer recommendation.

“AGREED: On the proposal of Councillor Larkin, seconded by Councillor Hanna it was agreed to issue an approval in respect of planning application LA07/2025/0797/O contrary to officer recommendation as contained in the Case Officer Report.”

Minutes