A Council has been given planning permission for changing facilities at a Co Down beach despite installing them a year ago.
The development in Warrenpoint will allow for a greater amount of outdoor activities under the management of East Coast Adventure.
The group currently leases the old baths area from the local authority as its base.
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On its request two shipping containers will now be put on the beach each summer to be used as changing rooms for the next four years.
However, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (NMDDC) had installed the containers this summer without first going through the planning department for permission.
The positioning of the shipping containers was viewed as not up to specific Department for Infrastructure Rivers’ standards and could have been exposed to a tidal floodplain.
Planning committee chairperson, Cllr Declan McAteer (SDLP) said: “It looks as though the council perhaps had an oversight in not gaining planning permission from the department.
“The planning department was itself ‘disappointed’ to find that the council had not gained planning permission to put the shipping containers on the beach last year.
“So the council now had to go through the process and it has had to cooperate with specific designs of elevation and waterproofing.
“The approval for the shipping containers as changing facilities is something that could have a very positive knock on effect for swimmers and outdoor activities in south Down.
“We are expecting the area further down Warrenpoint called Sandy Bottom to be recognised as a designated swimming area.
“This will also see an option for the quality of the water and access to the amenity areas to be protected.”
The decision not to gain planning permission first has been said by NMDDC to have been made as part of a “pilot scheme” .
A council spokesperson said:“NMDDC piloted the use of shipping containers to provide a temporary changing facility for a tenant of Warrenpoint Baths, which is currently closed.
“The changing facility services a wide range of schools, youth groups and individuals to avail of water based activities offered by a local activity provider.
“The pilot proved successful therefore council officers submitted a planning application to provide this temporary changing provision on a seasonal basis whilst the business case for redevelopment of Warrenpoint Baths is progressed.”
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