Council reject OAP flat plan

Homes and businesses next to GPs

Plans to build sheltered housing, shops and takeaways next to a Stirling health centre have been unanimously rejected by councillors.

Caledon/TDL, McCarthy & Stone, Raploch Regeneration Company, Scottish ministers and NHS Forth Valley were seeking permission to create sheltered housing to the west of the Orchard House site, with a mix of commercial uses to the east of the ground.

Stirling Council planners had recommended conditional approval of the application, subject to a legal agreement.

But at a meeting of the council’s planning panel last week all members refused the bid. Labour councillor Danny Gibson felt so strongly about the issue that he resigned from two bodies with links to the proposal.

McCarthy & Stone wanted to build 48 flats in a four-storey block for people aged 60 and over.

Drs Hamilton, Lynch and Chambers of Orchard House Health Centre raised about patients’ privacy concerns and increased traffic.

Four submissions were made by the public, raising concerns over fast food outlets on the site, the height of the proposed buildings, loss of trees and increased traffic and demand for parking.

Planners said that for commercial uses 84 parking spaces were being proposed, though only 66 vehicles at most are estimated to be parked there at any one time.

Their report added: “Two of the detached commercial units will be hot food takeaways as there is interest from end users for these units. The third unit is a speculative build where the end users have not yet been identified.

“In order to allow for flexibility a number of possible uses have been sought for unit three, including a creche or gym.”

The panel decided the proposal constituted “gross overdevelopment” of the site, a loss of valuable open space, was an inappropriate location for sheltered housing and would impact on views from Stirling Castle and Stirling Bridge.

They also had concerns about the lack of affordable housing in the development. The developers had argued that this was not required, given occupancy of the flats would be limited to older people.

Panel member Danny Gibson said: “As a local member I spoke at the hearing, very strongly objecting to this application.

“In order to make this objection I have unfortunately felt obliged to resign from the board of Raploch Urban Regeneration Company, as well as a patron of the Cowane’s Trust, as both organisations own land within the application site.

“I was not directly involved in the decision by either organisation to seek to sell/promote this land for such an application.

“The RURC decision was before my time on their board and the Cowane’s decision was taken by independent patrons, specifically excluding those that were councillors.

“I will now be writing formally to the applicants, asking that they respect the democratic decision of the planning panel, as well as writing to NHS Forth Valley, Cowane’s and RURC asking that they likewise respect this decision and not engage in any further processes trying to overturn this decision through the appeals process.

“Apart from the planning reasons, from a public health and health policy point of view I will be asking searching questions of NHS Forth Valley as to how they could possibly have regarded it is appropriate for publicly owned NHS land to be sold off to private developers and used for 24-hour drive-through/ takeaways.”

I will be asking searching questions of NHS Forth Valley