Care home and flats on prime site rejected
Concerns over scale of student accommodation
Plans for a care home and student accommodation on one of Stirling’s most prominent city centre sites have been refused.
Stirling Council’s planning panel unanimously rejected the application last Tuesday by Caledon/tdl, Northcare (Scotland) and Scape Homes for the development on the former Orchard House Hospital site off Back O’hill Road.
Among the concerns raised by council planners were the scale, height and density of the student development and the impact on trees both within and outwith the site, as well as a failure to provide an adequate level of off-street parking.
Planner Peter Mckechnie told the panel that while the care home plans were generally acceptable, the overall height, bulk and density of the student accommodation was “considerable” and would adversely impact on nearby Conservation Areas.
Tory councillor Alistair Berrill asked whether the panel was obliged to take into account that a previous application which was refused then successfully appealed.
Mr Mckechnie replied: “Yes, in particular the site for the care home because that was for a similar scale to the development now being proposed for the care home.
“However, it is different for the student accommodation site because it was really only single to one-and-a-half storey so it differs greatly from what was approved previously.
“The recommendation of refusal for this application, therefore, doesn’t contradict the appeal decision.
“The reasons for refusal are focused primarily on the student accommodation, apart from the issue of parking.”
Mr Mckechnie confirmed that the panel had to make a decision on the application in its entirety, however it was open to the applicants to bring back applications separately for the care home and student accommodation sites.
Tory councillor Jeremy Mcdonald said: “I really have a problem with the off-street parking as well. A lot of students have cars now and there doesn’t seem to be enough.”
The proposals included student in a range of cluster and studio apartments in two to four storey blocks - two of the blocks located along the front of the site at Union Street and Lower
Bridge Street, with the third block between the two. There would also have been ground floor communal spaces and outside space, pedestrian links and landscaping as well as a cafe facing onto Union Street.
The three and a half storey care home meanwhile would have been accessed via Back O’hill Road.
The developers had suggested the student accommodation could be car-free and that the proximity of public transport and cycling links would mean no necessity for dedicated parking for students.
But council roads officials said the city’s CPZ (controlled parking zone) did not currently cover the site and a restricted parking and tenancy agreement would not cover surroundings streets.
Thirteen individual representations were received citing concerns including impact on biodiversity and European Protected Species, scale, adverse impact on local amenity and exacerbation of parking problems, impact on GP practices, and loss of open space and trees.
Previously, builders Mccarthy and Stone scrapped plans for a retirement homes complex and fast food outlets, next to Orchard House surgery in Union Street, at the start of 2019.
The council’s planning panel rejected plans for that proposal May 2018 despite a planners’ recommendation for conditional approval.
An appeal lodged by the developers with the Scottish Government’s Planning and Environment Appeals Division in an attempt to overturn the panel’s decision, however, was conditionally approved.
A lot of the students have cars now and there doesn’t seem to be enough