Country home bid is refused
Plans to develop land at Manor Powis, near Blairlogie, have been rejected.
Stirling Council planners have turned proposals by Paul Houghton for a house and garage on land adjacent and south of 5 Manor Steps, Manor Powis Road.
The one-and-a-half storey house also involved creating a new vehicular access off Alloa Road.
Eight letters of objection were submitted against the plans citing concerns that it could lead to a larger housing development, that the proposed road associated with the house would fundamentally change the character of the existing settlement, that the building and plot line was out of character with the layout of adjoining buildings, and impact on the landscape.
In their decision, council planners said the proposal did not comply with Local Development Plan policies or draft guidance for housing in the countryside.
They added: “Due to the scale and alignment of the proposed residential plot, the proposal in its current form does not form an integral addition to the existing building group and does not respect the established development pattern of the building group.
“It is located within the core and rural villages area and is currently in agricultural use (rough grazing) forming a small parcel of land which is part of a much larger agricultural field that is enclosed by a thick shelterbelt.
“The site adjoins a small building group of approximately 11 residential dwellings, including four holiday lodges, and is separated from the building group by a one metre post and wire fence only.
“The building group itself appears to have evolved incrementally around a late 19th century farm complex featuring a two-storey stone farm house and converted farm steading buildings. While the layout and orientation of buildings within the group varies to a considerable degree, all buildings, with the exception of the original farm house, follow the line of the original road layout along its northern edge and western edge where it bends sharply before continuing south towards the application site.
“This road, which is privately owned, does not appear to have been widened at any point and is still very narrow in form.
“The surrounding landscape – Carse East of Stirling – is relatively flat and open and the application site itself is strongly contained by the dramatic sharp edge of the Ochil Hills escarpment to the north. Views to and from the hills cause this landscape to be particularly sensitive to new development.
“Other than a row of mature and semi-mature trees, which enclose a small section of private road to the northeast of the building group limiting views to La Fortuna holidays homes, and a scattering of trees along the eastern limits of the building group, the landscape setting around the group could be described as being visually exposed and therefore highly visible from the Ochil Hills to the north.”