HOME PLAN IS APPROVED
Thumbs-up from council planning panel
Plans to replace a wooden garage with a modern home on a strip of land in a Bridge of Allan Conservation area have been narrowly approved.
Stirling Council’s planning panel voted last week by three votes to two to approve the plans by local architect Bobby Halliday.
Mr Halliday wants to build a two-storey house on the narrow 157 square metre site in Kenilworth Road, thought by council planners to have once been part of the category C-listed 13 Kenilworth Road’s garden ground.
Kenilworth Road comprises Victorian sandstone villas and three residents have objected to the plans.
The proposal had also been recommended for refusal by council planners who said its scale and position would adversely impact views through the Conservation Area and towards the listed buildings either side. They said the home would be built right up to the boundary walls on both sides and the only amenity space would be at the front of the property for parking and bin storage.
They had previously raised concerns over the effect on a protected sycamore tree and said creating foundations for the house would likely damage the roots of trees in neighbouring gardens. A tree survey submitted by the applicants showed the roots would not be affected, however there was a suggestion that they may ask for separate permission to remove one of the trees.
Objector Terence Kirchin, who has lived near the site for 29 years, said he was looking for the panel to do what he was legally required to do as a resident in protecting the character of the Conservation Area. He added that putting another driveway at that part of the road could also be a safety hazard given already restricted visibility, and that given width of the application site whoever lived there would most likely end up parking on the road. Roads officials said, however, they had no issues with the application.
Addressing the panel as local councillor, however, Douglas Dodds spoke in support of the application saying what was currently there was “dilapidated and of no purpose at all”.
He added: “The architect will design something that will fit with the Conservation Area. Something needs to be done with it and now is the time to make a firm decision.”
Mr Halliday said there were instances of sites in other Conservation Areas where narrow plots had been developed and locally there were smaller plots with homes such as coach houses and a new build property just 100 metres from the site.
“What we do is to respect the houses on either side. We have dropped the level of the proposed house to make it less intrusive. The design is 50 per cent of the site, not the entire site as the planner states.
“There are no on-street parking issues. We have obtained the advice of a tree surgeon. The roots did not go under the wall, however we took a notch out of the plan just in case.”
Panel chair Councillor Alasdair Macpherson said he had some “real sympathies” with the proposal, which he had previously described as a “quirky house”, saying it had the potential to create a two-bedroom house for a young couple for whom other houses in that area would be unaffordable.
Councillors Jeremy McDonald and Maureen Bennison voted to reject the application, however it was approved on the votes of councillors Macpherson, Chris Kane and Evelyn Tweed.