Village pub will be sorely missed if demolished
Councillor says loss of eatery would be a‘disaster’
A Scone community councillor has said the potential loss of a local bar and restaurant would be a “disaster” for the village.
Scone and District Community Council (SDCC) member Donald McKerracher made the remark ahead of a meeting this week where elected members heard the local authority had been notified a planning application could be lodged soon to demolish the Wheel Inn.
Edinburgh-based Juniper Residential wants to flatten the popular pub off Angus Road so it can build a retirement complex comprising two separate blocks containing 42 one or two-bedroom apartments as well as another 13 “affordable” apartments.
But Mr McKerracher, the SDCC’s planning convener, reckons the proposal will not only rob villagers of a place to eat and drink but also a place to park as many locals currently use the pub’s car park while attending church and completing the school run.
Plans shown to the public during a recent consultation at the Robert Douglas Memorial Institute stated the new complex would have three separate car parks with a total of 58 spaces plus four disabled spots, but these would be for residents and visitors only.
“This will be a disaster for the village,” McKerracher told the PA.
“The Wheel Inn lets all the people going to church use their car park and a lot of mothers park there to take their children to school too.
“It will definitely be missed. But this isn’t what they call a ‘material consideration’ when it comes to deciding planning applications so this could end up being a problem if people only talk about the loss of parking in their objections.”
The retired civil engineer said he was reserving further judgement until a proper planning application is sent to the council, but added: “We’ll be making a few comments to the developer at this stage and when the application comes in we’ll have a good go through that.”
However, Strathmore councillor Lewis Simpson echoed Mr McKerracher’s concerns when the local authority’s planning and development management committee heard this week that Juniper Residential was considering sending in an application soon.
He also said that the potential loss of the pub’s car park would cause problems and sought an assurance the council would take into account the availability of community facilities should an application be filed. However, PKC’s development quality manager Anne Condliffe Wheel Inn could end up being demolished to make way for a retirement complex confirmed current parking arrangements at the Wheel Inn would not be relevant when determining an application.