Motorhome firm accept flood risk
Businesssubmitsexpansionplanson‘risky’land
A motorhome sales firm says it is willing to take the risk that their proposed new business is likely to be flooded at some point.
Perth-based family business Scotmotorhomes want to expand into the Stirling area and have earmarked a field next to Dobbies Garden Centre and the Stirling travelling people site close to the River Forth.
The company offers a range of new and second-hand motorhomes and camper vans for sale, parts and accessories, and a motorhome and campervan hire division.
They say the operation would create up to 15 full-time jobs including sales staff, administrative, engineers/mechanics, site maintenance and cleaning and also offer a holiday site for hire customers and others with a motorhome/campervan visiting the Stirling area.
They say caravans, however, would not be catered for as they would be harder to evacuate from the site in a flood, and it would not be a camp site.
The application is due to go before Stirling Council’s planning panel on Tuesday, however council planners are recommending refusal.
They say Local Development Plan Policy supports sensitive expansion of existing holiday caravan and camping sites and not new sites and the site would not provide an acceptable level of amenity for tourists and holidaymakers.
The planners also say all the buildings and access would be at risk of flooding and the use for the 12 holiday pitches would be classed as a “most vulnerable use” according to SEPA guidance.
The land is classed as medium to high risk and SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency) has objected to the application, therefore if the application was to be approved it could be referred to Scottish Ministers.
In a report due before the panel, council planners said that while the applicant may have accepted the business risk that comes with an operation within a floodplain, developing the site could place other properties and people a risk of flooding.
In a submission to the planners, however, agents for Scotmotorhomes, Houghton Planning, said: “It is appreciated that this is a difficult site to develop. However, this proposal will provide local jobs and will also support the local tourism strategy.
“When previous applications have been submitted on the application site, and close by, SEPA has objected in principle on the grounds of flood risk. The applicant fully understands the reasons for this.
“It is absolutely not the intention of the applicant to argue that this site won’t flood – it clearly will in a 1:200-year event – nor is it proposed to use landraising or compensatory storage as a mitigation method.
“Instead the applicant’s case rests entirely on the fact they will design the site and buildings to be flooded and they will have a flood evacuation plan in place to deal with a flooding event, if it occurs.
“They will also accept the business risk that comes within a flood plain.
“The motorhomes sales site will comprise the proposed building, which includes a workshop, display area, office area and store, and outside display area where motorhomes for sale and rent will be parked.
“The intention is that this building, as well as the amenity building, will be floodable, and will also be resilient to the effects of being flooded.
“In other words, they will be designed and built to dry out quickly and be suitable to move back into in a very short time after a flood incident.”
The site will be entered from just south of the council-run travelling people site via a new gated entrance and a new road that will extend north to serve the main part of the application site, which lies north of the travelling people’s site and east of Dobbies.