A planning application has been lodged with Mid and East Antrim Borough Council for lighting on an aircraft landing strip outside Ballymena.
The 750 metre private runway is located at Buckna Road, Broughshane.
Take offs and landings are restricted to 52 per year. The first landing at the new Slemish Airfield took place in July.
Planning permission for the facility stipluated that the strip had to be reinforced with a layer of ‘perfo’, a hardening material through which grass can grow naturally effectively making the strip invisible.
The fresh application for lighting has been made by the couple who also built the luxurious ‘Slemish Retreat and Spa’ near to the landing strip in the Braid Valley.
Ernie Graham and his wife Dr Karen Graham run a network of care homes in southern England.
The Graham Care Group, which was founded in 1996, owns and operates nursing homes and care suites for over 500 residents in Surrey, Kent and Sussex.
Slemish Retreat and Spa is described online as a “luxurious 5000 sq ft five-bedroom villa with its own 12m by 6m swimming pool, hot tub, steam room and sauna. It offers panoramic views of the Braid Valley, with Slemish mountain just behind”.
