Housing plan for ex-Army base on edge of former ‘bandit country’ would vastly increase size of village

The Bessbrook Mill complex, which had been occupied by the Army during the Troubles, is at the heart of a proposal for 270 homes.

The mill is a listed building, and would be retained under the plans.

According to the 2011 census just over 2,700 people live in Bessbrook, with an average of 2.6 people per dwelling.

Assuming the same number of people moved into all the new houses and apartments, the development would increase the size of Bessbrook by slightly over one-quarter.

The village stands to the north-west of Newry and is about five miles from the border; it is Catholic-dominated, with roughly 18% of residents being Protestant.

A further breakdown of census figures shows 15% of Bessbrook is aged 65+, and 25% had a long-term health problem of disability.

The developers are listed as Farlstone Construction.

The types of homes which would be built are 206 apartments, and 64 townhouses – split between private and social housing.

Also planned are a gym, doctors’ surgery, creche, shop and salon.

A BBC feature about the mill in 2014 said the site dates back to the mid-17th century, and that it was essentially defunct by the 1970s – at which point the military requisitioned it.

Ronan Woods of Genesis Planning Consultants worked alongside Milligan Reside Larkin architects on the blueprints.

He said that the plans now on the publicly-accessible Planning Portal website represent only a “pre-application”, and that details may change as time goes on and a fuller application is submitted.

He said that a consultation is set to begin within a month.

There had previously been planning permission granted for the site in 2012, but Mr Woods said it had since expired.

He said the plans would be “a considerable benefit to the area,” because they would bring “a vacant site back into use”.

There had previously been planning permission granted for the site in 2012, but Mr Woods said it had since expired. He added the plans would be “a considerable benefit to the area,” because they would bring “a vacant site back into use”.

Despite its modest size Bessbrook has often been the scene of bloodshed; the Conflict Archive on the Internet service lists 25 killings connected with the village and its surrounding area during the Troubles, and the base there was used to oversee a swathe of south Armagh IRA territory formerly known as “bandit country”.

That includes the 10 Protestant civilians murdered nearby in the Kingsmill massacre in 1976; the killing of four policemen in a bombing in 1979; the deaths of five British soldiers in a landmine attack in 1981; and the fatal shooting of Stephen Restorick in 1997 – the last soldier killed as part of the PIRA’s campaign (his killer was reportedly sentenced to 490 years in jail in 1999, but he was free the next year under the terms of the Belfast Agrement).

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