PLANNING permission has been recommended for the use of additional land as part of a shop unit in Rothesay after a mixed response from residents.
Erin Murphy’s proposal for the site at the rear of 19 Princes Street has attracted 37 expressions of support and 17 objections from the public.
Some residents have branded the use of the entire site as “excessive and unnecessary”, while others have told council officers that the premises “offers products and a visiting experience unlike any other on the island.”
The plans, which also include the building of a fence, will be considered by Argyll and Bute Council’s planning, protective services and licensing committee on Wednesday, April 23.
A planning officer said in a handling report: “The site is located within the ‘Main Town’ of Rothesay as identified in the adopted Argyll and Bute Local Development Plan (LDP2) and, given that it was previously occupied by a cinema/bingo hall/theatre building but is now largely overgrown with trees and vegetation, it is considered
to constitute brownfield land that has become naturalised.
“The proposal would create a usable external space in association with the immediately adjacent ground floor commercial businesses.
“Given the mixed use nature of this particular area of the town…it is considered that the proposal finds support…in that it would assist with the vitality of businesses in the immediate vicinity.
“Moreover, Rothesay has bus links, shops, cafes, primary schools, a secondary school (Rothesay Academy), health care facilities and play
parks, etc and, therefore, the proposal would be consistent with the principles of ’20-minute neighbourhoods’ and ‘local living’.”
The report added: “The principal elevation of Duncan’s Halls would not be affected by the proposed development and only relatively small sections of the new fencing might be glimpsed from the footway on East Princes Street through the closes of numbers 21 and 23 at distances of approximately 11 metres and 14 metres respectively.”
