Councillors hit pause on plans for 47 homes
Site visit set to be carried out amid leader’s fears
ADECISION over whether to approve plans for 57 new homes at Braehead has been put on hold after the council leader expressed fears about the suitability of the location.
Park Lane Group has lodged proposals for 18 flats and 39 houses on a patch of grassland in Row Avenue, close to the Steam Wheeler pub.
Council officers recommended the application be given the green light, arguing it would help to provide a “diversification of uses in the area”.
But at the latest remote meeting of the planning board, elected members opted to carry out a site visit before making the call after Councillor Iain Nicolson voiced concerns over whether the earmarked two-hectare site lent itself to a housing development.
The council leader said he was worried there were no other residential areas nearby, with the proposed spot bordered by the pub to the north east, Premier Inn to the south, Dobbies Garden Centre to the north and Renfrew Road to the west.
He told the virtual chamber: “If you look at the location, we appear to be agreeing to what I would call a residential island being created here.
“There’s no immediate housing connected to this site. You’ve got the M8 backed up to it and garden centres and industrial units all around it.
“My understanding of basic planning is that residential developments should fit in with surrounding uses, so I can’t see how this works.
“I’m yet to be convinced this is a good housing site going forward. I would accept this if housing was going to be built out in the future, but I do not see that in the application as it stands.
“I want us to be sure minds this is a good site.”
Conservative councillor Neill Graham argued there was no issue with building housing in in our the area and moved to grant the application, but councillors opted for a site visit by 11 votes to four.
The proposals will be deliberated over again at a future board meeting once that site visit has been completed.
If the blueprint is eventually accepted, Park Lane Group plans to build a mixture of terraced houses and flats.
Three-storey blocks of flats are proposed to the north-east and north-west of the site.
Access would be via Row Avenue, which would be continued into the development.
If you look at the location, we appear to be agreeing to what I would call a residential island being created here