The boss of a major housing developer staged a protest outside council headquarters yesterday (Thursday) - with a giant model snail - to vent his frustration over the progress on a 3000-home supervillage for Stirling.
Sandy Adam, chairman of Springfield Properties, challenged Stirling Council on what he said had been “considerable delays” by planning officials to move forward with housing at Durieshill, between Plean and Bannockburn.
Attending the Viewforth building as councillors prepared for a full council meeting, he appealed for answers and made a bold visual statement with an eight-foot figure of a snail to highlight the speed at which he feels the council is moving on the project.
It has been a 287 weeks since planning was submitted for the development which would see the creation of 3,000 homes.
Mr Adam said that planning officials had failed to meet agreed timescales, most recently pushing back a “milestone date” that had been earmarked for the Section 75 Agreement to be tabled at yesterday’s meeting.
He said: “There is a well-documented housing crisis in Scotland, with communities across the country crying out for new private and affordable homes.
“Specifically in Stirling, the need for housing was identified in the local development plan 20 years ago.
“Springfield brought the solution to Stirling Council in 2016, and councillors instructed their officials to move forward with this development in 2019 when permission was granted.
“Since then, significant time and effort has been put into bringing this development to life, and yet we have not been able to proceed.
“It is embarrassing for Stirling Council that we are in this position, unable to move forward because of the inaction of officers who have given no reasonable justification for these delays.”
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Springfield Properties say that, if progressed, Durieshill would bring 400 jobs to the area each year, including apprenticeship opportunities.
They also say it would support the wider economy and generate tens of millions of pounds in planning gain and Council Tax receipts.
The most recent delays relate to the Section 75 Agreement, which the company said was due to be discussed at today’s council meeting but was removed from the agenda at the last minute. The provision, part of the planning process, requires Springfield to make a financial contribution to the council to be used for improving local infrastructure.
Mr Adam continued: “Springfield has extensive experience in building large village developments and in no other council area have we witnessed anything like this.
“Our Dykes of Gray development [Dundee] of 1,500 homes took just 62 weeks for consent to be issued, our Bertha Park [Perth] development of 3,000 homes took 76 weeks.
“At Durieshill we are at 287 weeks and counting.
“We fully recognise the importance of getting the Section 75 right, but the council has had years to look at this, and when councillors asked for clarity on the issue, the reaction of officials is to postpone decisions, rather than using the extensive studies and reports available to answer the questions being raised.”
He concluded: “We need to stop trying to decide what words go on what bits of paper.
“It is time now to progress, to get the diggers going and to provide the people of Stirling with an outstanding and exemplar new village to call their home.”
A Stirling Council spokesperson said: “The Durieshill development is one of largest detailed planning applications to have been approved in Scotland. As such it requires significantly more time to determine than an application for permission in principle for a similar sized development.
“A development of this size and scale also requires complex mitigations for education and transport infrastructure that involves extensive dialogue with third parties to ensure all necessary approvals are in place.
“Stirling Council has already demonstrated significant commitment to this major project, including the approval of capital funding for a new primary school in March 2023.
“The Council and the developer are close to completing the Section 75 agreement process, and the Council remains committed to working closely with the developer to ensure the development is effectively planned and managed, while the appropriate democratic scrutiny takes place.
“Detailed work on pre-start conditions is also underway which will allow the developer to start at the earliest opportunity once all approvals are in place.”
Plans to create a new 3000-home development at Durieshill between Plean and Bannockburn initially emerged in 2004 when the land was first allocated in the Local Plan.
Since then it has had a lengthy and chequered history including it being backed at a public inquiry by the Scottish Executive in 2006. But building work then failed to materialise.
Springfield Properties became backers for the site in 2016 and in December 2019 Stirling Council’s planning and regulation panel approved the firm’s application, thought to be one of the most extensive and complex single development proposals seen in Scotland, with 163 conditions attached to the consent.
