There has been a call to save a "historic" building in South Belfast from demolition as plans are submitted to turn it into apartments.
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 houses.
The plans had been before the council's planning committee in 2022 but were rejected, but have now been resubmitted with some slight alterations.
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However, local residents have spoken out against the plans believing that developers should not be allowed to demolish a historic building that is over 125 years old, that has "stunning gardens" at its rear that are also due to be removed.
They feel the demolition of the former nursery will have a big impact on the already eroding character of the area, as Annadale Avenue is known for being lined with large Victoria buildings. They believe that the developer should maintain the original building and gardens and scale down their development.
Speaking to Belfast Live, one neighbour Helen said: "This application came up in front of the council a couple of years ago and neighbours spoke out against it believing that it would further erode the character of Annadale Avenue and bring the area down.
"This is a beautiful historic building that is over 125 years old with some lovely gardens at its rear that will all be destroyed in order to put up new apartments and terraced houses. The developer just wants to squeeze as much as possible into the space without any consideration on the impact to the local area.
"They could easily use the existing building to development apartments and scale the development down a bit, which I know would be far more welcome among local residents and neighbours, while keeping the historic character of Annadale Avenue."
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