27 03 24 5 Robin and Helen Brown Responses to representations from interested parties
Argyll and Bute Council · 16 May 2024
Back to Argyll and Bute Local Review Body — 16 May 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
Page 1
Responses to representations from interested parties. 5 Robin & Helen Brown We have not been afforded the opportunity to modify or revise our plans by the Council due to various and lengthy delays that we were subjected to through no fault of our own over the past two years. We have already had discussions with planners regarding modifications and have always been willing to work with them but there were staffing issues which prevented this happening unfortunately. The proposed house would appear as a two-storey building onto the upper part of Village Brae. The shed that was demolished had its corner almost right on the corner which can be seen on google streetview if you “stand” in front of the garage beside Helen’s car. It is deceptive to judge as the access to the parking behind the shed was almost round the corner. As a comparison the visibility round the bend will be little altered, the overall height of the building irrelevant when driving. We have to keep our proposed building within the confines of our site so we disagree that our proposal will make the corner “tighter”. Our issue with the Council Car Park is that it has been developed by the Council and its use intensified by the installation of EV charging points without taking consideration of the visibility splays and pedestrian safety which are being imposed on us. We do not agree that the Council can impose rules on members of the public which it then ignores and is non-compliant with at its own developments. With respect, or proposed house will not face directly onto the front of your house. We have taken all the necessary topographic levels to ensure that our roofline will be below Appin Cottages ground floor windowsill, and we did do this with full consideration that your views out to sea would remain unaffected. We know how we would feel! There are three storey buildings on Main Street in the village – Albert Buildings, Bute View and Royal Buildings which are each two residential storeys over the commercial ground floor units. The example of the Chalet Hotel, one of the most prominent sites in the village, was used as this is a modernist three storey over basement approach being permitted in a location totally surrounded by pitched slate roofs. We, in contrast, have been able to take cues from our surrounding buildings, for example, our closest neighbour the Old Fire Station, and the three round windows on the RNLI building.
Page 2
Regarding pedestrian safety on the Brae, as we say, we have to stay within the confines of our site boundaries so space on the Brae is unaltered. The proposed house is in fact not that much larger than the footprint of the building demolished, it is not a development of significant scale regarding footprint, just a bit taller. If we are unsuccessful in being able to build our new home we will have to consider what to do with the site and replace the building which existed – it was higher than the larger shed which again can be seen on google streetview – and put it to a use as permitted within the existing classification for the site as a whole.