Uproar at CALA homes go-ahead for Milngavie & Bearsden
IN granting permission for the Kilmardinny development the Scottish Government reporter SWEPT ASIDE the concerns of the local community.
That's the view of local politicians whose anger continues to mount over the decision.
As exclusively revealed in the Herald last week, reporter Janet McNair gave the green light for 550 houses and retail outlets on acres of land stretching from Hillfoot in Bearsden to Auchenhowie in Milngavie.
And criticism of the decision to uphold the appeal by developers CALA and Stewart Milne has come from across the political divide.
Gil Paterson, MSP for the SNP, hailed Ms McNair's decision a calamity while Labour MSP Des McNulty said it was wholly unacceptable.
Local Tory councillor, Amanda Stewart, who campaigned against the development before being elected and was precluded from voting when the proposal was rejected by a majority of her colleagues, before it went to appeal, slammed the decision.
She said: "It's shocking that the concerns of the community put so competently by our representatives appear to have been totally ignored in the reporter's decision."
Aside from the loss of green space, experts in road management predicted traffic chaos if the development went ahead and community groups raised fears for already over-stretched medical and education services.
Mr McNulty said: "These concerns were completely swept aside. The reporter's decision sides entirely with the developer and fails to take into account many of the entirely reasonable concerns expressed by local residents."
He is astonished that the requirement set by the reporter is for no more than 10 per cent of affordable houses, when national guidance is for 25 per cent of new developments to be affordable homes.
Mr McNulty said the decision, coming after Scottish Ministers gave recent consent for hundreds more houses in Blanefield and Drymen, will result in many hundreds of extra cars on the road at peak periods, making local roads a nightmare.
He added: "The plans for the rail halt have been kicked into the long grass, leaving the whole burden of taking the project forward on public bodies while the developers role is restricted to reserving land for just 120 spaces, nowhere near enough.
"This is an entirely unacceptable decision by the reporter and one whose negative effects will be compounded by other decisions made by the Planning Minister.
"I hope East Dunbartonshire Council will explore every avenue to contest this decision and will take a very firm stance with the developers so that the interests and views of local people are taken account of."
With regard to sports centre he said: "It should be a pre-requisite of any development that the new sports centre is built first while the existing centre is kept open."
Mr Paterson blasted: "This was a very bad decision — a calamity for a lot of reasons — it almost makes a public inquiry a waste of time. When you consider the quality of the case stated for the objectors it's astonishing CALA got almost everything they wanted.
"It can't stop here, we need to drill down and see what the conditions are to see if we can make it more palatable for the greater community."
MP Jo Swinson said there was a long list of very good reasons why the council rejected the proposals and added: "I am dismayed to learn that the Scottish Government reporter has given them the go ahead.
"The impact of 550 new homes — potentially more than a thousands cars — on traffic on Milngavie Road will be immense, not to mention parking around the shops and the railway stations, which is difficult enough already.
"Milngavie Road is already at a standstill during rush hour, and this could lead to gridlock chaos.
"I hope the council will work closely with the developers to make sure these problems are prevented, not just in the long term but also in the short term while construction work is underway."
Commenting on the loss of the Allander, she added: "It is all very well saying that a new sports facility will be built, but 18 months or possibly more is an unacceptable length of time for the people of Milngavie and Bearsden to go without a sports centre.
"The council owns the Allander Sports centre, and they must do everything within their power to ensure that it is not closed until a better facility is available in the vicinity."
LibDem Councillor Eric Gotts also slammed the decision, stating: "I am very disappointed with the outcome of this Public Inquiry. I fail to see how this development can be beneficial to the Milngavie Community.
"Milngavie is already close to being overdeveloped and the last thing that is needed is more houses and more cars. Allocating a small parcel of land for park and ride, will not bring a rail halt at the Allander any closer in the short or medium term. A cash-strapped council will have great difficulty in finding the shortfall to build a replacement for the Allander Leisure centre. The traffic mitigating measures will not be sufficient to counterbalance the increased congestion that this development will inevitably cause.
"I feel that the huge effort made at the Public Enquiry by all those opposed to this development, is not reflected in this disappointing outcome."
Members of the action group who opposed the application on behalf of community groups are set to meet with councillors on Friday.
Keith Small, who conducted the case for the group during the Public Inquiry, said: "We had a meeting on Monday night to review the reporter's decision and the more you read it the more it's hard to believe how she could have reached the conclusion she did.
"She points out in her decision all the areas in which the application doesn't meet policy — yet concludes she'll grant it. We need to discuss the decision in detail with councillors, in particular how the 20 conditions laid downcould be fulfilled."
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Friday 25 May 2012
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