Anger as planners do U-turn over access to new homes

Apr 30 2009 by John Rowbotham, Hamilton Advertiser

A COUNCILLOR this week hit out at a major U-turn over plans for the access to a proposed Hamilton housing development.

Hamilton West and Earnock councillor Tommy Gilligan voiced his criticism as members of South Lanarkshire Council planning committee discussed detailed plans for the 13 acres of prime building land.

Barratt West of Scotland were subsequently given the go-ahead to build 123 terraced, detached and semi-detached properties.

Access is to be from a traffic light-controlled junction off Woodfoot Road.

It had been intended to knock down the house at 87 Woodfoot Road to provide access via a mini-roundabout.

The intention now is to retain that house but demolish the garage to create space for the road into the estate.

The scheme attracted 22 letters of objection and comment, one of them from the Central Scotland SNP MSP Alex Neil.

Those who contacted the council were unhappy at the plan to have only one access point into the development.

There was concern too that Woodfoot Road residents accessing their homes would face queuing traffic as a result of the new homes.

There were also fears about possible anti-social behaviour generated by a play area earmarked for the new estate, loss of bat habitats and woodland and the over-shadowing of neighbouring properties.

Whilst planners rejected the complaints as “not significant enough to merit refusal”, Independent councillor Gilligan reminded committee members that the access arrangements had changed.

When outline consent for the scheme was granted in July, 2005 - in the face of 42 letters of objection and a 32-signature petition - councillors agreed two access options:

l The existing lane into the school, in Wellhall Road, and a new way in from Woodfoot Road over land currently used as a car park by the Jesus Christ Church of Latter Day Saints.

l A new spur road from the Wellhall Road/Hillhouse Road roundabout through land currently occupied by the Avon pub.

Councillor Gilligan said the second of those two options had subsequently been rejected for financial reasons.

“I would now like to know what steps have been taken by the developer to implement the proposal for two access roads, as agreed in 2005.

“There seems to be a volte-face by the developer and instead of trying to use the access arrangements permitted by us they seem to have gone out of their way block the existing way into the site by first proposing, as part of the development, a four-storey block of flats and then a two-and-a-half-storey block.

“Now there is to be four terraced houses built across the existing access.”

He said the proposals did not comply with the 2005 consent.

Senior planner Morag Little said: “There may be more than one solution to developing a site and what you have in front of you is what we have to make a decision on.”

She said the developer had failed to secure control of land vital to one of the access points agreed in 2005.

And she added that they had agreed to the two access points at a time when the exact number of homes to be built on the site was not known.

“The solution in front of you which is a single access point controlled by traffic lights is the preferred option given the number of units,” she added.

Transportation engineer Stuart Laird said they would not be able to produce a single acceptable road into the development using the existing access in Wellhall Road.

He added that once the development was completed they would closely monitor traffic flows in Woodfoot Road.