Homes to be built on site where war victims were treated

A SECOND World War hospital where casualties from the Clydebank Blitz were treated is to be transformed into a new “residential community”, it was revealed yesterday.

Stirling Council’s Planning and Regulation Panel has backed plans by developers Cala Homes for 89 houses at the site of the former Killearn Hospital, 15 miles northwest of Glasgow.

The hospital opened in 1940 as one of several emergency facilities built around the UK for military casualties. At its peak, it offered 640 beds as well as neuro-surgical, orthopaedic and peripheral nerve injury specialist units.

Its site was selected in the expectation Britain’s cities would suffer massive damage from aerial bombardment.

In March 1941 the hospital received casualties from the Clydebank Blitz after the Luftwaffe launched devastating air raids on the shipbuilding and munitions town.

Wounded servicemen, essential war workers and even prisoners of war also received treatment at Killearn during the conflict.

The wooden huts continued to be used for civilian purposes after the war and the hospital joined the NHS in 1948, but it eventually closed in 1972.

The site had been chosen because it was far enough away from major cities, such as Glasgow, which were anticipated to be a target for German bombers.

However, the hospital’s relatively isolated location also contributed to its demise. The site, which is now derelict, was later used as a filming location for STV crime drama Taggart.

Welcoming the latest development, a Stirling Council spokesman said yesterday the proposals would create a “vibrant community with plentiful green space and a village green on the derelict site”. A mix of house types consisting of bungalows, terraced, semidetached and detached properties, ranging from two bedrooms to five bedrooms will be built.

As part of the application an area of the site has also been earmarked for development as commercial space.

Planning in principle has also been granted for Cala to develop a care home and business units, which could follow at a later stage.