Housing plan for former Omagh PSNI station car park

OVER 30 new homes, including social housing, is being earmarked for the site of the former PSNI station on the Mountjoy Road in Omagh.

Lewispark Properties who are based in Derry, have applied for permission to erect the homes on what used to be the carpark of the police station.

The land is now derelict, and the plan will require the demolition of two existing buildings at the site.

The main station building at the site which was used by the PSNI until 2009 when they moved to the current station on the Derry Road, has for almost a decade been earmarked for new offices. It is not included in this development.

But the company behind the plan says it is not able to construct housing on the whole area, including the former PSNI station, because the two parts of the site are now in different ownership.

A Planning Statement supporting the development claims that Fermanagh and Omagh District Council wrote to the developers in July last year stated that they would prefer the site to be developed as a whole.

If the green light is given for the development, there will be 31 homes.

These will range from a bungalow, two storey and two and a half storey properties. There will also be a number of apartments.

The development will front onto the Mountjoy Road just opposite the Grange, but access to it will be via the nearby Woodside Avenue.

The buildings will be painted or in red brick with grey windows and black concrete roof tiles, which the company says is ‘reflective’ of existing buildings in the surrounding area.

“This proposal will bring a vacant site back into use, and provide much needed social housing within Omagh,” said Matthew Kennedy, a planning consultant with Lewispark Properties.

Out of the 31 dwellings being proposed, there will be one four bedroom two and a half storey home, five three bedroom two and a half storey properties, one single storey three bedroom home, six two storey two-bedroom homes, seven one bedroom apartments and 11 two bedroom apartments.