New home to be built in Kinfauns church
The former Kinfauns Parish Church is to be turned into a home, after planning permission was granted.
Planning officers at Perth and Kinross Council have granted permission for‘change of use’to turn the Carse of Gowrie church, which has been empty for the past 20 years, into a dwellinghouse for Mr Jawad Awan.
The applicant previously had a planning application for the Kinfauns church approved by the council, but needed to submit a fresh bid after some of the design details were changed.
This comes despite a plea from a nearby resident to refuse the application.
Joan McGlinn, wrote to the council saying:“It is with great reluctance that yet again I feel forced to lodge a complaint against even more plans for this building.
“I have already been made quite ill by the arrogance and sheer incompetence of the completely unsupervised building firm who installed phone cables, water pipe, sewage tank and soakaway for the property, disrupting my life and ultimately leaving land owned by others, includng me, strewn with building debris in places in a dangerous state with large stones poised to roll down a steep bank to the burn below.
“At no time could I find anyone, including Perth and Kinross Council employees, available or willing to answer questions about their actions. I did refer it to Cllr Alistair Bailey but nothing appears to be being done by the council.”
Her letter highlighted concerns about the public areas around the church. She continued:“Visitors to the graveyard would now not be able to reach and therefore would be barred from using the west entrance to which they have already been relegated and which leads to where the most recent and frequently used graves lie.
“This is a serious problem, the area belongs to the village and the wider community.
“It is abundantly clear that no-one has consulted any documents relating to previous planning applications for this property as many of these problems have already been addressed and dismissed.
“I trust that they will be handled in a similar way and deservedly thrown out. Kinfauns Church
“Please do not give permission to any of these claims or changes.”
Part of the permission granted by the council would see a beech hedge put in place before any work on the church could begin,“in the intersts of protecting the amenity of occupiers of the dwelling and users of the graveyard.”
The applicant will still need to apply for a building warrant before work on Kinfauns Parish Church can begin.