Major housing development in North Ayrshire given green light
Planning permission was sought by Persimmon Homes to build 191 houses on an allocated greenfield site on the outskirts of Beith
A highly ambitious planning application for nearly 200 houses in the Garnock Valley has been given the green light by councillors.
Planning permission was sought by Persimmon Homes for the erection of 191 houses with associated works including access, parking, landscaping, open spaces and sustainable drainage (SuDS) on an allocated greenfield site adjacent to Kings Road on the outskirts of Beith.
And the proposal came before Wednesday’s North Ayrshire Council Planning Committee.
The site comprises two agricultural fields bisected by a field ditch, edged with a hedgerow and trees, although there are gaps in places.
To the north is an established woodland corridor known as the Mossneuk Strip, a plantation consisting of coniferous and broadleaved trees some 26m wide. Beyond this are the estate grounds of Woodside Castle, which comprises a combination of open grassland and woodland.
The site is bounded to the southwest/west by Kings Road and Woodside South Lodge. On the west of Kings Road is the detached cottage of Mossneuk and agricultural land.
The Glasgow – Ayr railway line is 850m to the west, with Kilbirnie Loch beyond. Beith town centre is accessed from Kings Road.
The proposed development would have a single point of vehicular access from Kings Road at the low point of the site, midway between the old Beith cemetery and Mossneuk/Woodside South Lodge.
There would also be a separate pedestrian footpath connection onto the existing pedestrian foot-way alongside Kings Road at the southwest corner. The site layout would take the form of a series of interconnected streets north and south of the field ditch, which would be retained in its current form.
From the entrance at Kings Road, a street would run east, leading towards a street 200m long. The southern leg of the street would loop around to the east.
The northern leg would cross the ditch, the setting of which would be enhanced as a ‘biodiversity corridor – an area of vegetation which allows animals to travel from one patch of native forest to another.
Mix of detached, semi-detached and terraced homes
Within the northern part of the site, a number of looping streets would be formed and there would be two bridges over the ditch and visitor parking would be provided throughout the site.
The housing mix includes 103 detached, 54 semi-detached and 34 terraced homes.
Most homes would have either three or four bedrooms, and 16 would have two bedrooms. The proposed housing designs have all been developed by the applicant at their other recent projects in North Ayrshire.
The houses typically have steep roof slopes with gable ends. Some would have gable features to the front and/or roof canopies over front doors. The applicant has proposed that external finishes would be finished in render and red or buff brick.
All roofs would be finished with grey tiles and all homes would have mono-block driveways. Solar PV panels would be provided on all roofs.
Front gardens would be open plan and back gardens enclosed with 1.8m high timber fences. The development would provide two play areas for children – one for toddlers, the other for older children.
A larger area of grassed open space would be provided at the centre of the site suitable for ball games.
Landscaping would be added to the fringes of the field ditch, much of which would be overlooked by footpaths from the front of houses.
Neighbour notification was undertaken for the application, which involved 26 letters being sent to all addresses within 20m of the site.Eleven representations were received. These comprised nine objections, one in support and one neutral with comments.
Planning committee member, cllr Cameron Inglis said: “Something like this is badly needed and more house building attracts more people to the area which is something we need in North Ayrshire with the declining population.”
The application was approved subject to conditions.