Plan to flatten building and put up hotel rejected
Officials blame lack of details
City officials have denied a man permission to demolish a dilapidated building in the middle of Perth and build a new four storey hotel in its place.
Tarek Fayez of London-based Urban Plan Consultants applied for consent in principle to knock down 10-12 South Methven Street to make way for the proposed hotel in early April.
However, planning officials have now rejected his application as they say he has not given them enough information about what the hotel would look like to convince them it would not impact negatively on the surrounding streetscape.
They also say he should have submitted a second separate application seeking conservation area consent to demolish the existing building setting out his justification for applying to knock it down rather than redeveloping it.
The existing building latterly housed the old Clachan Bar on its ground floor and was added to
Historic Environment Scotland’s register of buildings considered to be in a serious state of disrepair in 2012.
Perth and Kinross Council’s report on Mr Fayez’s application said: “In this instance a set of very basic elevational drawings have been submitted which fail to show any detailed information on the detailed design of the proposal, the finishing materials or a demonstration of how the building will sit within its setting or relate to the conservation area and adjacent listed buildings.
“The drawings also appear to suggest that the scale of the building would be four storeys, extending to 22.4 metres in height and extend back from the public road by 25.5 metres, which is significantly greater than the scale of the existing buildings on site which would potentially be of detriment to the setting of the listed buildings to the south and north east of the site.
“Given the open nature of the site to the north due to the position of the adjacent car park, the north elevation of the building will be prominent on the street scene and intervisible with the principle elevation of the category B listed 6 and 8 South Methven Street.
“The lack of any detailed information regarding the design, materials and form of the building and the information provided in the indicative plans suggest that the proposed building would be of detriment to the setting of the listed buildings to the north and south of the site, together with impacting detrimentally on the character and appearance of the Perth Conservation Area.
“Should the developer wish to proceed with a proposal on this site, a detailed planning application should be made with appropriate supporting information.
“A conservation area consent application with detailed justification for the demolition of the existing buildings on site would also be required so both applications can be considered concurrently as required by policy.”