Planners consider details of district centre at Millbrook

The proposal mooted by developer Seymour Sweeney when he visited Larne Borough Council two years ago entails a supermarket, filling station, pharmacy, hair salon and a DVD rental outlet.

Two hot-food takeaways, a bank or building society with ATM, a wellness centre and a cafe/restaurant are also envisaged at the site north of 7 Old Belfast Road, between Old Forge Manor and Porter Crescent.

A wellness centre and a recycling point are listed in the reserved matters application, which seeks permission for aspects of the proposed development that were not dealt with in an earlier, successful outline planning permission.

Larne Borough Council accepted Mr Sweeney’s case for new shops and services at Millbrook for the convenience of the growing population in West Larne. Many of the new homes were built by Mr Sweeney’s Seaport Investments, with planning permission granted for hundreds more dwellings.

After consulting with interested parties, Planning Service will inform the council if it intends to approve or refuse the proposal.

Construction of the district centre would see completion of the Larne West link road, which has been designed to ease traffic flow in the town.

It has been incumbent on developers to build those parts of the road which pass through their properties.