Community councillors have told a Scottish Government planning appeals reporter that locals feel “let down” over plans to build a major new retail and housing development in Thornhill.
Inverdunning (Thornhill) Ltd, in conjunction with JCC, the owner of the existing agricultural business on the application site, had submitted an application to Stirling Council planners for permission in principle for their project.
They want to use land north west of Burnside Works in Main Street for employment, retail and residential use, including affordable housing.
Residential land on the northern part of site is expected to have scope for around 70 new homes.
However, they have now appealed to the DPEA (Scottish Government planning division), on the basis of non-determination after the council failed to meet a decision deadline because of delays created by the local authority elections.
The community council has now submitted their comments to the appeal reporter, reiterating their strenuous objections to the proposals.
In their submission, Thornhill and Blairdrummond Community Council chairman Scott Patterson said: “We welcome the introduction of community-led development, as envisaged by the Scottish Government, and have set up a group to develop our own Local Place Plan (LPP), to feed into the forthcoming revision to the Stirling Council Local Development Plan. Work is well advanced on this project.
“The imposition of a ‘satellite village’ on the edge of Thornhill, incongruous with the existing village, and with cursory consultation, is not what the village wants as it seeks to grow organically and sustainably.
“The appellant appears fundamentally to have based this appeal on a perceived housing shortfall, and an assumption that a housing shortfall trumps all other planning considerations. This is not our understanding of planning legislation, nor of the various opinions provided by the Court of Session. Furthermore, we dispute the figures put forward by the appellant.”
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They said the consultation, carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic, was “widely regarded, by the community, to have fallen significantly short of what would be deemed to be a reasonable engagement, even given the limitations of lockdown” and that Stirling Council had deemed it satisfactory simply because it did not specifically contravene any legislation.
The community council said it had made “abundantly clear” in its formal objection to Stirling Council that houses and an industrial complex but no attendant infrastructure would add “significant pressure” on Thornhill’s existing infrastructure, particularly transport.
They added: “The addition of 73 houses, further industrial units, and a retail complex, in a small village eight miles distant from Stirling would add additional reliance on private motor vehicles, increasing traffic flow, congestion, pollution, and carbon emissions.”
They said they had also assumed that all parties had accepted the need for a delay in the decision and felt “badly let down” as a community.
They added:“The local community made 179 representations to Stirling Council about the proposal. Of these, just one was in support, whilst 178 were objections.
“This demonstrates the strength of feeling in the local community.
In documents submitted with their appeal, agents for the developers said there was a “clear and significant housing land shortfall in Stirling” and that the proposal would bring regeneration benefits to rural Stirling and Thornhill in particular, with a range of homes (including 33 per cent affordable provision), direct employment / workspace, community facilities, greenspace, paths and connectivity improvements.
