Published: Wednesday, 9th April, 2008 12:00
Sauchie mansion to be demolished
By Nicola Findlay
Comments (0)
Print Article
PLANS to knock down a Victorian manor house in Sauchie will go ahead despite the planning application being brought back to councillors.
As previously reported in the Advertiser, Ochil View Housing Association were given the green light last month to build 11 houses and four flats for the elderly on the site of the former school and college annexe in Mar Place.
Although SNP councillors Mark English and Gary Womersley raised concerns about tearing down one of Sauchie’s few remaining historical buildings and whether enough had been done to see if a community or business use for the building could be found, Ochil View’s plans were given the go ahead.
But officers were forced to go back to the council’s regulatory committee with the application on Thursday saying there had been an objection from Sauchie Community Group prior to the expiry of the advertisement period.
However confusion reigns over the objection from the community group with Ochil View Housing Association querying whether a formal objection was made.
A letter from Sauchie Community Group’s secretary, Martin Ketchion, to the council’s head of planning, Stephen Bell, states that the community group voted on the issue at their December meeting with 49 of the 50 people present objecting to the development.
He went on to say that at the group’s January meeting 48 of the 51 people present objected to the plans after a presentation from Ochil View Housing Association.
However, a letter from Ochil View Housing Association to principal planner Grant Baxter states, “The January minutes do not state any objections or official vote and February minutes do not indicate any objections either.
“It may be that the initial gauge of feelings regarding the demolition that was taken in December, prior to our presentation or to the viewing of the proposed scheme, has been mistaken as an objection from the January meeting.
“However, the implication of this potential administrative error is significant for the association; if the planning application is not secured during the current financial year, the £85k grant is lost and funds from the 08/09 budget, which is already under severe strain, will have to be used to cover them.”
Provost Derek Stewart also told the Advertiser that as far as he is concerned Sauchie Community Group haven’t formally objected to the plans.
“I have been through the minutes from the community group’s meetings personally and at no time have they objected to the plans,” he said. “What the community group did say was that they would like the possibility of using the building for community purposes to be investigated.”
At Thursday’s meeting Councillor Stewart said that despite sustained efforts to find an alternative use for the Mar Place building no one had shown any interest in it and the building had simply become an “eyesore”.
Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Reddit
Stumbleupon
Further Details
Mum in tears after vandals trash son's grave