New plans to build on the Erskine waterfront would see the number of homes halved and wildlife habitats protected, people managing the proposals have revealed.
Outline planning permission for a residential development is being sought for the land between the Muthu Glasgow River Hotel and Kilpatrick Drive for a second time.
It comes almost two years after Renfrewshire Council, the Scottish Government Reporter and The Court of Session threw out a planning application from Persimmon Homes to build 246 homes on the same landscape.
Now Cosmopolitan Hotels is seeking planning in principle for a new development on its land and an adjacent site owned by the council.
Its agents, Kevin Murray Associates, say the new scheme would be significantly pared back and, crucially, would not involve any building on the woodland deemed a “site of importance for nature conservation” (SINC).
Rim Chouaib, a senior planner with Kevin Murray Associates, told the Paisley Daily Express: “The idea is to try and build a plan in collaboration with the local community. We want to build more buy-in into the project and that’s the main message we want to get across. We want to start from a clean slate and build this proposal with the community.
“What is different with this application is that the SINC is being preserved. In the previous application, everything was going to be developed, the whole site.
“The exact number of homes has still to be worked out but we expect it to be about half of what was presented earlier.
“Within that there will be affordable housing and we have spoken to Bridgewater Housing Association about that. Nothing has been agreed but we have approached them to discuss a possible partnership. There will be different types of housing within the proposal.”
Kevin Murray Associates is overseeing the community engagement as part of the planning application while Peter Drummond Architects is creating the designs for the site.
Ms Chouaib, however, wasn’t in a position to explain who would build the homes should planning permission be granted. Persimmon Homes would also not confirm if it still had an interest in the site.
Ms Chouaib and her colleagues have carried out one of three community consultation events planned to garner opinion on possible proposals and to gain a greater understanding of the constraints of the site.
The first workshop held earlier this month allowed locals and formal stakeholders such as the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Scottish Woodland Trust, the community council and local representatives to put forward issues which they would like to be considered as part of the planning application.
The second consultation, which will take place on Wednesday, will seek people’s opinions on new proposals and ideas that could possibly be taken forward by the design team.
“Nothing is set yet, these are ideas in principle,” Ms Chouaib added. “One issue that came up a lot in the first session with the community council was a lot of development in the area and a big issue with schools, GP services and a lock of public green spaces.
“I know there have been discussions with Renfrewshire Council regarding these issues but I couldn’t say what if any solutions have been proposed.”
The next community consultations will take place on June 28 and July 25. Both take place at Erskine Arts and run from 5.30pm until 8pm.
A presentation will be made at both consultations at 6pm. Everyone is welcome to attend.
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