A courtroom battle to save two Georgian houses from being bulldozed ended in victory for conservationists last night.
In the Court of Appeal in Belfast three judges unanimously dismissed an appeal against an injunction restraining MAR Properties Ltd from demolishing the two semi-detached houses on Bangor Road, Holywood, Co Down.
The campaign to save the houses was mounted by Holywood Conservation Group.
The court had been told that the North's environment department intends to make part of Holywood a conservation area and the order is expected to come into force today.
MAR Properties bought the houses for £1.25 million and had planning permission to replace them with apartments and two terraces of three-storey houses.
Holywood Conservation Group secretary Ms Jane McClure said the houses were surrounded by listed properties and were integral to the townscape.
The North's Lord Chief Justice, Sir Brian Kerr, said the residents did not enjoy private rights or public law rights which would found a claim for an injunction but a House of Lords judgment stated it could be done if one party behaved in a manner that was unconscionable.
The covert way in which the company proposed to demolish the houses at 5.30 a.m., having bound the previous owners to secrecy as to their intention, made it clear that they intended to deprive the conservationists of an opportunity to bring injunction proceedings. "The manner in which the appellants proposed to set about it proves they acted unconscionably," he said.