South Belfast residents have raised concerns over plans to demolish a Victorian house and replace it with new homes, apartments and a car park.
Plans have been submitted to the Belfast City Council planning committee to demolish the former Bees Knees nursery on Annadale Avenue and replace it with nine apartments and five terraced homes with accompanying car parking.
However local residents believe that the plans will have a huge impact on the character of the area by removing a historic building with "beautiful gardens" and replacing it with new build properties.
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They have questioned why the original building cannot be retained and repurposed into apartments, similar to other properties along Annadale Avenue.
Speaking to Belfast Live, a resident from the neighbouring property, said they were disheartened to hear of the plans and hopes that something can be done to save the building.
She said: "This is a historic Victorian building that has been in the area since around 1904 with beautiful gardens that are full of life and colour and it is sad to see that it could possibly be demolished and replaced with a car park.
"Annadale Avenue is known for its red-brick Victorian buildings lining the streets which give the area a brilliant character and many residents here believe that this needs to be maintained.
"For a number of years now there has been an effort to redevelop Annadale Avenue and remove the heritage and history from the area and residents believe that these buildings should be repurposed into apartments, rather than seeing them destroyed and replaced."
The developer for the proposals has said that it is looking to build eight, two-bedroom units and six, three-bedrooms ones, with the tallest building in the development being three storeys.
In the design and access statement, it said: "It is our assertion the proposed residential development scheme complies with all relevant planning policy and supplementary planning guidance. The design concept has been carefully considered to ensure the proposed development will respect the character of the site and surrounding area in terms of design, layout and scale.
"The proposed density is not significantly higher than that found in the established residential area. The areas of private and communal amenity space exceed published design guidance. The proposal will create a high quality residential environment that will not harm interests of acknowledged importance, including residential amenity. We consider the development represents an improvement over the existing dilapidated condition of the site and will assist in meeting the housing need of this area of South Belfast."
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