A decision to reject controversial plans to build up to 50 homes in Union Mills has been overturned due to a ‘pressing need’ for more homes.

In January this year, the planning committee had unanimously rejected the application by Dandara Homes for the potential new residential development.

Dandara applied for approval in principle (24/00713/A) to build up to 50 homes on a site bordered by Trollaby Lane and the main Douglas to Peel road.

The application site is zoned as strategic reserve in the Area Plan for the East and deemed suitable for housing.

The proposals prompted a raft of objections about the impact on traffic, overdevelopment, flood risk and lack of detail about the number, type and density of housing.

The planning committee rejected the application unanimously with concerns the proposals were premature.

But the decision has now been reversed by political member for the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture, MHK Lawrie Hooper, who was delegated authority to determine the case on behalf of the minister.

The appeal inspector found the developer had shown a ‘sufficiently pressing need’ for new homes that outweighed certain planning policy conflicts.

In the decision report, it says: ‘The appellant has demonstrated a current, sufficiently pressing need for residential development of the site.

Concerns over the loss of agricultural land, highway impacts, and the site’s character were judged capable for being addressed at a later stage and they ‘do not bring the scheme into conflict with the development brief of the site’.

While the scheme is approved in principle, Dandara have some way to go before the housing scheme can become a reality. Detailed designs will need to be submitted and granted before work can begin.

A total of 21 conditions have been attached to the approval in principle, outlining certain deadlines as well as providing details on site layout, design, and landscaping.

Any challenge to the latest decision would have to be made via a petition of doleance to the High Court within three months.