Nos 41-49 Queen Street, Belfast (April 2014)

Image: © Albert Bridge Taken: 20 Apr 2014

See Image (April 2012). The ”Athletic Stores”/Swanston’s warehouse is still standing and vacant. The Ulster Architectural Heritage Society sought a judicial review of the decision to give planning permission for demolition and replacement by apartments and shops. The following is a selective extract from the judgement handed down on 7 February 2014: “This is a challenge to the decisions of 2 May 2012 whereby the respondent [the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland] granted planning permission to Carlisle Property Developments Ltd to demolish a four storey 19th Century warehouse located in Queen Street, Belfast and to construct on the site a seven storey residential/retail development” . . . . . “[69] The problem with this decision is that the Department is not obliged to change the status quo. The instant application is not the end of the line for the building. It is not the only option. If this application were refused, the building would continue in use as it is at the moment for the time being. There would be no necessary detriment to the area. Nothing bad will immediately happen if the building continued in its present use save the effect of time on the fabric of the building which it is estimated will eventually render the building unusable in 30 years in the absence of alternative proposals. [70] To my mind where the Department is obliged to have regard to a presumption, and there are two options available to it, one which respects the presumption, and one which does not, the existence of the presumption-respecting option is a very material consideration and one which must be considered and given its full presumptive weight. [71] Key documents leading to the ultimate decision overlooked the existence of this presumption, and none of the documents gave any or proper consideration to the presumption-respecting option that was open to the department. For this reason I hold that the Department failed to properly take into account a very relevant consideration”.

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