Apartments plan for Bishop Street site

Plans to create a new flats complex in Bishop Street have been unanimously approved by Derry & Strabane Council's Planning Committee.
The two upper floors of the building will be convered into flats.The two upper floors of the building will be convered into flats.
The two upper floors of the building will be convered into flats.

The application by Green Homes NI (Ltd) will see existing office space converted into 10 flats.

These will be created over the second and third storeys at 18-20 Bishop Street, on a corner plot with London Street above the Bedlam shops, (formerly Bookworm).

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Planners had recommended to the committee that the plans be approved. A Planning officer told the committee sitting in Strabane on Wednesday that this was a nonelastic building in a conservation area and that no external changes would be made.

The officer also said that there has been no objections to the scheme and that it complied with all relevant policies.

Chair of the Planning Committee, SDLP Councillor John Boyle, said the site was “very well known to all of us as the former Bookworm”.

He added that it was recognised more units were needed for small families and individuals and said the scheme.

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He also said that repopulating the city centre was something that has been discussed at previous meetings of the Local Development Plan.

SDLP Councillor Angela Dobbins proposed that the committee accept the officer’s recommendation.

“When you look at Bishop’s Gate Hotel beside it this will only be an enhancement for that area,” she said.

In response to a query from Sinn Fein Councillor Patricia Logue, the planning officer confirmed that there will be no change to the ground floor, which is currently in use for retail purposes.

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