New lease of life plan for farm building

A derelict farm building in Fintry looks set to be turned into a house.

Stirling Council planners have conditionally approved an application by Murgitroyd Forestry Investments Ltd to convert and extend the building 560 metres south west of The Mount.

The developers say one room within the house would be used as a home office. The site is accessed via a road serving Mount Farm which connects with the B818 north west of Fintry and then via an unmade track from the farmyard to The Fank.

The track is to be upgraded to allow forestry operations to take place on land owned by the applicant.

In their decision, council planners said:“The proposal is to convert The Fank, retaining all of its features and existing door and window openings, and extending it in a complementary way to create a house. The approach to the design of this extended building has been primarily to retain as much of the character of the original natural stone building as possible. In order to minimise the volume of the extension a modest increase in height of the main building is proposed to allow for a more usable upper floor space.

“The proposal is for a sympathetic conversion and extension of a traditional stone building and there a significant wider environmental and visual benefit to be had from the proposed development.

“The applicant has advised that the private track from the B818 to the site shall remain open for access at all times, and the junction can be upgraded.

“A condition relating to keeping the right of way along the site open at all times has been included as an ‘informative’on the decision notice as this is not a spatial planning matter which is enforceable under planning legislation.”