Pitlochry office to make way for housing?

Oct 15 2010 by Johnathon Menzies, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

AN UGLY former office block in Pitlochry could be about to be demolished to make way for “increasingly needed” social housing.

Management at Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) have submitted a bid to the local authority’s own planning department to level their premises on the Highland Perthshire town’s Rie-achan Road.

The vacant building was previously used by staff from the council’s housing and community care team, who have since been relocated.

A supporting document submitted alongside the application, compiled by PKC housing team member Ron Taylor, describes the building as “unsuitable” for conversion.

“The office building is to be demolished to make way for increasingly needed social housing,” Mr Taylor writes.

“The current building would not accommodate the number of units required by the council.

“The size of the site has been increased by some extensions in recent years which are not very tasteful. It is hoped the replacement buildings will visually benefit the area.

“Another plot of land near the site has also been earmarked for social housing.”

A special type of application has been lodged because the office is situated on land within Pitlochry’s conservation area.

The project will come under the microscope of PKC’s development control committee before the end of the year.

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A PERTH firm have signalled their intention to breathe new life into a wartime control tower situated on a Strathearn airfield.

A and J Stephen Ltd this week lodged plans with the local authority to revive the derelict listed structure at Clathymore, near Findo Gask.

The Fair City-based construction company’s application asks the local authority for permission to convert the three storey-observation unit, built in 1941, into residential dwellings.

A document sent to council planners and drawn-up by consultants Allen Gordon leaves unclear the precise number of homes proposed.

Findo Gask Airfield, which was used in the Second World War, was closed in 1948. Councillors are expected to decide by early December if the project can be taken a step further, including more detailed plans being drawn up.

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A FORMER ambulance station could be turned into a vets’ practice if proposals submitted by Highland Perthshire partners are given the green light.

Those behind animal specialists Harbit & Ryder veterinary surgeons, who operate a facility on Pitlochry’s Atholl Road, have asked Perth and Kinross Council for permission to revamp the unused vehicle base on nearby Kennedy Place.

The future of the near-950sqm site will be decided at a future meeting.