A new ‘Go’ filling station and 5,000 sq ft supermarket has been approved for Camlough.
Three years after proposals were first lodged with Newry, Mourne and Down District Council and the development can finally proceed.
The applicant is the Cookstown-based LCC Company, which operates the ‘Go’ brand for fuels.
The site in question is that of the former Riverside filling station, which had operated since the 1980s. It would now be demolished and cleared to make way for this new development.
The proposals detail a 5,000 sq ft retail unit, together with outside seating. The building will include the main retail space, back of house, staff room, office and cash office.
An entrance lobby is included along with an area for the provision of an ATM.
There would be a total of eight petrol pumps on four ‘dual-sided’ bays.
The application indicates a total of 14 staff on site daily.
And in terms of parking, 49 spaces are planned to accommodate both customers and staff. There would also be two disabled bays with a cycle stand located at the front of the retail outlet.
The former petrol filling station had been described in an earlier design and access statement as “derelict” for close to a decade.
The new development would serve as a “replacement”, one which would “ensure the long-term viability of the site” – much of which has already been cleared – by “re-establishing an active use”.
The statement, submitted in 2023, advised: “Access/egress arrangements onto the Newry Road are to remain in the existing position, but are modified to suit the proposal; the site had a substantial dropped kerb along the length of the previous businesses.”
In the intervening time between first lodging the application in March 2023, additional information had been sought and considered during statutory consultations with, among others, DfI Roads, DfI Rivers, NI Water and Environmental Health. All have now been satisfied with no objections to the plans as they stand.
Neighbours had been notified too and there were no objections there either.
Indeed, one “representation of support” was received, the feeling being that the “proposal would revitalise the site and surrounding area and will be a much-needed resource in the community”.
An assessment carried out in 2024 argued a “qualitative need for the development to regenerate a vacant site and to provide additional choice for the daily top-up shopping needs of the growing population of Camlough and wider rural hinterland”.
And referencing the existence of a sole Nisa store, it stated that it was “inconceivable that a village the size of Camlough would be restricted to only one convenience retail unit”.
Planning officials accepted the need for the new facilities.
Case officers, in recommending approval, had stated: “Having considered the proposed development against relevant planning policy, and having regard for the previous use within the site as a petrol filling station, it is considered that the proposal will result in the redevelopment of the site.
“The redevelopment will result in betterment for the area of Camlough and improve the visual amenity and character of the site and area, given its current run-down appearance which has a negative impact on the area.”
The applicant will now be informed of the decision to allow the new filling station and retail premises to proceed.
