Thornhill, Stirling, United Kingdom

Tag: Housing Development proposal

Inverdunning/JCC Development Application – update

Information from Blair Drummond and Thornhill Community Council

On 13 January 2023 the Scottish Government Reporter asked for more information to assist her in writing her report regarding the Inverdunning/JCC proposed development. This is in addition to the extra information sought in November. The reason for this latest request is the publication of a planning decision for an application in Bridge of Allan (see below). TBDCC will be responding to this latest request.

The deadline for our response is 27 January, after which we expect a report and recommendation to be published within a number of weeks.  This report goes to Scottish Ministers for a final decision. How long this decision will take remains unknown, but in the Bridge of Allan case it was 9 months from the report being published to the final decision being published.  

We will keep you updated as matters progress.

Bridge of Allan – Graham’s Dairy proposed development. As in the Thornhill case, the developer sought to rely on a shortfall of land for housing development to outweigh several factors in which their proposal ran contrary to the Local Development Plan. The Reporter identified difficulty in accurately gauging the shortfall of housing land. Having taken a pragmatic view of the land supply, he recommended refusal of the development application. Scottish Ministers took a different view, and considered the “worst case scenario” of land supply, therefore basing their decision on the potential for a significant shortfall of housing land. However, even in this “worst case scenario”, their assessment was that the shortfall was not enough to tip the balance in favour of development on a greenfield site, so their decision was to refuse the application. 

We would caution that whilst there are parallels between the Bridge of Allan proposal and the Thornhill proposal, there is no guarantee of the outcome of the Reporter’s recommendation, nor of the Ministers’ decision. 

TCT response to Inverdunning Proposal

TCT submitted a response based on feedback from members. Thank you for getting in touch to give us your views.

You can read our response here.

Template letter for Planning Application

A planning specialist working for a large firm has produced this objection letter with instructions as attached.  It focuses on the areas which he reckons are most likely to allow effective objections.

  • The letter will be effective if sent as is following the instructions.  i.e. no problem if used by multiple people as long as it is from a named resident with address.  
  • The letter can be added to with an individual’s other views / objections or these can be included in a covering email.  So this letter does not detract from the value of detailed objection in other areas.
  • While there’s nothing to stop multiple objection letters from one individual he thought it slightly better for each person to send all their objections in one go.  
  • It could also be uploaded to the Planning Portal (though formatting goes).
  • It’s  important to copy in the people he suggests.  The Community Council is copied to keep them in the loop as to comments / objections / numbers / issues which they might then use as evidence.
  • He says it’s good we have specialists to tackle the environmental / flooding etc. assessments (as well as flaws in the pre planning consultation).  However at first glance he reckoned that flooding / sewage / water issues were fairly likely to be overcome by a developer.  

A planning specialist working for a large firm has produced this objection letter with instructions as attached.  It focuses on the areas which he reckons are most likely to allow effective objections.

  • The letter will be effective if sent as is following the instructions.  i.e. no problem if used by multiple people as long as it is from a named resident with address.  
  • The letter can be added to with an individual’s other views / objections or these can be included in a covering email.  So this letter does not detract from the value of detailed objection in other areas.
  • While there’s nothing to stop multiple objection letters from one individual he thought it slightly better for each person to send all their objections in one go.  
  • It could also be uploaded to the Planning Portal (though formatting goes).
  • It’s  important to copy in the people he suggests.  The Community Council is copied to keep them in the loop as to comments / objections / numbers / issues which they might then use as evidence.
  • He says it’s good we have specialists to tackle the environmental / flooding etc. assessments (as well as flaws in the pre planning consultation).  However at first glance he reckoned that flooding / sewage / water issues were fairly likely to be overcome by a developer.  

Planning documents for Burnside Development

There seems to be problems with the planning portal so we have downloaded the documents and placed them in a folder in the TCT shared drive. They are at

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fX7ls446FajETuxU-NfXvhJQ1iGwjulR?usp=sharing

Please make sure you close the link down after use so as not to overload our system.

We would urge you to submit your own responses to the Planning Department as well as CC/TCT, as seemingly the Council take more notice if there is a high number of comments.

Currently we’re working towards the 30th December deadline.

Proposed Housing in Low Town

A link to a proposed development for new housing in Low Town, Thornhill can be found here.
Please contact Thornhill & Blairdrummond Community Council with any comments. ThornhillBlairdrummondCC@gmail.com

Thornhill Public Meeting

Thornhill Community Trust (TCT)

Invites you to a Public Meeting on Zoom

3 November 2020 at 7.30pm

The Trustees have arranged a special members meeting to discuss their response to Inverdunning/WS Dunsire’s pre-planning consultation.

ALL WELCOME

The agenda will include background to the meeting, a chance to hear others’ views, a TCT members’ vote and a chance to think about the future for Thornhill.

New to Zoom? – it’s easier than working a mobile phone and you won’t have to go out in the cold! It’s not an ideal way to get together but it’s the best we’ve got meantime. Why not give it a shot?

Email: thornhillstirling@gmail.com by 29 October for the Zoom link to join in.

Full details on Thornhill Community Website

Not on the internet?  You should have received a paper copy of the plans through the post – that’s your chance to let the developers know your views.

Community Council Statement on Thornhill Developments

The Community Council has released a statement on both the development within the village and the wind farm proposal near Kippen… a copy of this will be posted on the village noticeboard.

THORNHILL & BLAIR DRUMMOND COMMUNITY COUNCIL
STATEMENT ON JCC EXPANSION/HOUSING DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL
While the initial pre-planning community consultation is ongoing for the JCC/Dunsire development at Burnside Works, many residents have approached Community Council members to request it lend its collective voice to the dialogue.
We held an informal zoom meeting on Wednesday, 26th August to discuss this and want to let everyone know that we are proactively gathering information and will make statements in due course.
The 12-week pre-planning consultation has not yet started and JCC/Dunsire will provide clear communication about the date when the consultation is due to commence.
As we will be involved in the planning process decision making a lot further down the line, we have to remain impartial as any leaning either way could negatively impact the integrity of the Community Council.
Please bear with us while we seek official advice before we make a statement on behalf of the Community Council.
In the meantime, the full map of proposed works will be on the village noticeboard (Thornhill) and hall noticeboard (Blair Drummond).
Local councillors Martin Earl ( 01786 233114) and Jeremy MacDonald (01786 233117) were present at the informal meeting and are happy to talk you through the planning process should you have any questions.
Thank you for your patience at this time.

STATEMENT ON PROPOSED WIND FARM NEAR KIPPEN
During the informal meeting we also discussed the planned Shelloch Wind Farm near Kippen.
Our Community Council was not informed about the project, nor about the pre-planning consultations. However, we have issued a complaint about the lack of communication from the developer and were ensured that an online consultation with the Thornhill and Blair Drummond Community Council and residents will be organised in September.
We will inform the residents about the exact date of the online meeting – and how to register – in due course.

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