Meeting called on Pitlochry hotel development

Feb 5 2010 Perthshire Advertiser Friday

A PROPOSED hotel, retail and residential complex in the heart of Pitlochry is shaping up as a critical issue for residents.

Kathleen Scott, chair of Pitlochry and Moulin Community Council – which is holding an extraordinary meeting about the proposal this Monday night – said yesterday: “It’s probably the most important development we’ll see for the next 50 years.

“We’re not taking a stand on the development, that’s not the purpose of the meeting, it’s about gathering the community together to go over the plans and to discuss what’s being proposed.”

Archial Architects, acting for Aviemore’s Upland Developments, has lodged a planning application for the mixed use site, with a deadline for public comment of February 19.

Plans involve demolishing the former Old Bank House Lodge backpackers’ hostel and the defunct Bakers Oven bakery, both in Atholl Road.

While neither building is classified, both fall within the new Pitlochry Conservation Area.

Upland’s vision for the combined 6700sqm site involves a two-storey building on the lodge plot with 16 flats upstairs, six ground floor retail units and 53 “discreet” car parking spaces.

The bakery land will house a ground floor retail unit with an upper hotel featuring 52 beds. Vehicle access will be from the town’s Bonnethill Road.

In a design statement, the bakery is described as a “plain one and a half story brick stone building”, with the lodge “a plain mid-Victorian stone building”.

“Bank House is unlisted and lacks the exuberant, decorative architectural detailing that characterises Pitlochry,” it reads.

The architect argued that its vision was “an opportunity to replace these redundant and relatively nondescript buildings with a new development which could complement and enhance the character of the area”.

Ms Scott agreed that the old bakery was in dire need of an upgrade, but said the developer’s architect was down-playing the significance of the Old Bank House Lodge, a former bank.

“It’s not listed, we know that, but it’s in the conservation area and has the significance of being a stone-built Victorian structure with expansive gardens right in the centre of town,” she said.

“We’d like to retain the town’s Victorian presence and feel that modern buildings are generally not in keeping with the conservation area or our town.

“But I stress that (the community council is) not out to take a lead on this proposal or are trying to rally opposition to it.”

The architects referred the PA to Upland Developments for comment but they did not return a call.

The Pitlochry and Moulin Community Council e meeting is at Moulin Hall on Monday at 7.30pm.