Plan for home at former railway station approved
A proposal to build a house on the site of the old Port of Menteith railway station have been given the go-ahead.
Stirling Council planners had recommended refusal of the application by Gordon Addison to develop the plot west of Station House, around 1.5km north of Arnprior.
However, following a hearing on Tuesday, councillors on the planning panel decided to approve the application in principle.
Council planners said the application did not comply with policy on brownfield sites, adding: “It has not been demonstrated that there is a significant visual and environmental benefit to be had in redeveloping the land for a house, in that the site has now returned to a natural state through the growth of a line of trees and adjacent grass land.
“Moreover it has not been demonstrated that there is contamination on the site at all and even if t h e re is contaminated land, it is not known whether this affects the whole site or a minor part of the site area, for instance, whether there is a significant area of contamination.”
Planning panel members, however, felt that, on the balance of probabilities, the ground was still contaminated and therefore should still be considered brownfield and approved the application in principle.
The land is vacant with grass and trees and accessed via a road connecting it to the B8034.
Consultant s for the developers had said: “The