By Lesley Walsh
BALLOO residents fear the proposed redevelopment of an historic building will have an overbearing and ‘detrimental’ impact on their environment.
The owners of McCann’s on the Comber Road have submitted an application for a new shop, cafe and petrol station, in a scheme regarded by locals as ‘totally inappropriate’ in scale for the small village, near Killinchy.
Updated version of the plans, originally approved by Ards and North Down Borough Council in 2021, involve demolishing the existing buildings, with parking, access, landscaping and associated operational development included in the proposals.
The council has yet to make a decision on the plans, re-submitted last month, with neighbourhood notifications issued on January 23.
Local residents had until last Friday to register their opposition to the plans.
Currently, McCann’s, which opened as a general store in the early 1900s, currently operates a Spar and Post Office on the site, as well as a coffee and hardware shop.
News of plans for the transformation of the heritage building, and the adjacent ‘Falcarragh’ house, first emerged five years ago when planners approved plans submitted in 2016, prompting hundreds of local people to submit objections.
But with no bulldozers arriving on the site since the green light was given in 2021, residents believed ‘sense had prevailed’ and the plans had been shelved.
They were left shocked therefore, to receive planning notifications recently, with updated plans being considered once again.
Locals who object to the scheme say its ‘scale’ is ‘totally inappropriate for the centre of a small village’ and feared it would ‘dominate everything around it’.
They believe the ‘design, layout and appearance is urban in concept, bearing no relation to other buildings’ and view it as ‘particularly detrimental to the adjoining public house’, the popular Balloo House.
The objections were also based on the view that motorists are already adequately served by the existing petrol station in Balloo and in the adjoining downland of Ballyminstragh.
Local historian Lesley Simpson, said locals fear the McCann’s demolition could be ‘imminent’.
“The local community was in disbelief that the original proposal was agreed in 2020, despite more than a hundred objections.
“We were shocked to see the letter dated January 23, 2026, suggesting that demolition might be imminent.
“Many of the original objectors thought that sense had prevailed and the demolition would not take place,” she said.
She said many people still oppose the proposal, and referred to a book she co-authored, published last August, ‘Balloo, Killinchy – a Hidden History’, which she said demonstrates ‘the importance of these buildings, among others, in our small settlement’.
The Balloo community is now urging planners to ‘re-read all the objections, engage with local people and understand how important our few remaining old buildings are to the community’.
Ms Simpson stressed that councils and bodies like the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society ‘have a responsibility to future generations in preserving such buildings’.
“It is not too late to change the planning approval – there are many precedents for reversing a bad decision but when a building has gone it really has gone forever,” she said.
The Chronicle reached out to McCann’s for comment.
