Villagers blast ‘grossly oversized’ home plan
Luxury four-storey care facility would have 61 beds
Bothwell residents this week claimed the village’s conservation area status will be “further eroded” if permission is granted to demolish a traditional sandstone villa and replace it with a four-storey care home.
The plans for the 61-bed home at the 1 Hamilton Road and 10 Old Bothwell Road site, which lies within the Conservation Area, have been submitted by Balmer Care Homes, who currently run the Croftbank House and Rosepark care homes in Uddingston.
The Hamilton Road villa was formerly occupied by the Harte Construction Group which collapsed in 2012.
This building would be demolished, along with the neighbouring house at 10 Old Bothwell Road.
Old Bothwell Road residents this week expressed dismay at the scheme which they said would dominate a quiet residential area.
Elisabeth Rae told the Advertiser: “The status of Bothwell as a conservation village has been eroded by the constant pressure for ever more development – and this scheme amounts to overdevelopment.
“A beautiful sandstone villa will be demolished. Another nail in conservation in Bothwell.
“The character and essence of this small part of Bothwell will be seriously damaged if these plans go ahead.
“Not only that, the size and scale of these proposals will cause a number of problems as the buildings envisaged will house 60 elderly residents and care home staff will need to travel to and from their work on one of the smaller roads in Bothwell.
“Traffic problems are bad enough in the street at the moment as Old Bothwell Road is very narrow.”
Rebecca Scott, also of Old Bothwell Road, added: “To demolish 10 Old Bothwell Road and build a car park, access road and bin storage along the full boundary line of 12 Old Bothwell Road would clash with the character of the residential street.
“The proposed building is grossly oversized, not only in area, but also its height at three and four storeys.”
A document included with Balmer Homes’ planning application states: ‘The proposed development fully accords with all relevant development plan policy.
‘Moreover, it creates a much-needed luxury care home which there is a deficit of in Scotland in general and in South Lanarkshire as a local authority.
‘There are no material considerations which outweigh the positive planning policy position in relation to this proposed development in this proposed location.’
The document states that Balmer Care Homes bought the proposed development site in December 2015 after it had been on the market ‘for a number of months’.
It also points out that ‘conservation consent’ to demolish 10 Old Bothwell Road was granted in 2015.
The deadline for objections to the scheme is this Tuesday, May 2.