Plans to guide the future of Argyll and Bute until 2030 have been unveiled – including proposals for a new national park and allocating land for another 1,500 houses.
The council is currently preparing a new Local Development Plan (LDP2) and this week is asking the public for their views on a main issues report.
With the authority desperate to reverse years of falling population, Helensburgh and Lomond would be designated as a ‘flexible growth corridor’, responding to increased investment at the Faslane and Coulport navy bases.
Landowners were invited to suggest area for new development, and there are several potential new areas for housing in Helensburgh, as well as Cove and Kilcreggan.
The current Local Development Plan saw several sites allocated for housing despite senior councillors saying the limited timescale was ‘unsatisfactory in terms of local democracy’.
But the new document accepts that some of the sites previously allocated for development were not realistic – one in six have been designated for over ten years with no building activity, and almost 40% have never been the subject of a planning application.
Seven sites are suggested in Cove and Kilcreggan, as well as several in the Helensburgh and Cardross areas – these are listed in separate stories for the Rosneath Peninsula and Helensburgh areas.
No firm boundary is proposed for the new national park but it may include coastal areas such as Knapdale, the West Kintyre coast and islands such as Islay, Mull, Coll, Tiree and Jura.
The council’s policy lead for planning and regulatory services David Kinniburgh, who lives in Dumbarton, said:“There are many positive developments being made across Argyll and Bute at the moment and the Local Development Plan is designed to stimulate economic and population growth.
“The increasingly successful seafood and marine industries can be built on and over the next few years we will also see a significant employment and population boost in the Helensburgh and Lomond area with the development of HMNB Clyde as the UK’s single submarine base.
“In the preparation of this Local Development Plan our aim is to build on the successes already achieved to make Argyll and Bute an attractive place in which to live, work, invest and do business in.”
The council says that feedback is welcome, and more details are available at www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/ldp2
So the man who wants people to live and work in A&B doesn’t actually live here himself?????
I suspect there is a degree of wishful thinking is some of these plans. We already have planning applications in the pipeline for a significant number of new houses that are within the existing town boundaries. We already have a good number of available navy houses awaiting the proposed influx of naval personnel to fill them.
Some of the proposed new developments stretch the existing boundaries of Helensburgh and I believe we have time to see these come forward before allowing wider development. Will the new navy people live in the community or will they end up in more and bigger accommodation blocks within the surrounds of the base?
I like the idea of a new National Park based on our wonderful coastline but for that to become a reality we will need a great improvement in the facilities and infrastructure. Consider the Garelochhead to Arrochar road or the smaller roads along and between Loch Long and Loch Fyne; load them with more cars and caravans and you have chaos. As it stands we could not support increased tourism activity; much as it is to be welcomed.
So why is it caravans cause chaos?