£6.5m hotel scheme on hold

NORTHERN Ireland's Chief Planner has told Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council the decision to approve £6.5m redevelopment of Portrush's Londonderry Hotel must be reassessed in Belfast.

In January the council's planning committee voted 11-0 to reject local planners advice and grant Hotelier Rajesh Rana permission to demolish most of the listed Victorian building and replace it with a 3-5 storey, 87 bedroom hotel, complete with bar and restaurant.

The proposal was opposed by historic environment officials and rejected by planners, based on “partial loss of a listed building and its historic fabric” and its “impact on, not only the listed building but also on the setting of the surrounding listed buildings.”

*Read the full story inside this week's Chronicle.