Helensburgh’s green belt is under threat as planners target the area for additional new housing, a new report has revealed.
New sites for housing in Helensburgh, Garelochhead, Cardross and Kilcreggan have already been zoned in a key planning document which was confirmed last year.
But with Argyll and Bute still facing a declining and ageing population, the council is desperate to improve the economy.
A report drawn up by officials rules out ‘growth of any significant size’ on any of the area’s islands, the Cowal Peninsula or the Mull of Kintyre, while Oban is said to be ‘increasingly physically constrained and nearing its topographical capacity for growth’.
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The report adds: “Helensburgh and Lomond enjoys proximity and connectivity with the central belt and the development of HMNB Clyde is increasing the naval staff by 1,700 and their families, and brings further associated civilian population.
“However growth of the area is restricted by the green belt designation which was designed to contain the settlements.”
It adds of Oban and Helensburgh & Lomond: “Both areas are the places of greatest housing demand, and there are likely to be pressures on the supply of housing land within the medium term.
“Draft and preliminary scoping work has already started and is ongoing.
“A desktop land scoping exercise has been carried out to identify theoretical growth areas which will require assessment.”
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The council’s Local Development Plan 2, which was approved last year, sets aside new sites for housing but also says that strategic development frameworks will be produced, planning for development over the next 20 to 40 years.
The framework states that there will be a review “whilst recognising and safeguarding the key environmental features of the Green Belt, the landscape setting of settlements forming part of the Cardross – Helensburgh – Garelochhead corridor, and the contribution which the green network around these communities can make to providing for sustainable development.”
The report will be discussed by the council’s planning, protective services and licensing committee at its meeting in Lochgilphead next Wednesday.
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