New Kilbirnie housing development gets approval from planners

Derelict and vacant land to the south-east of Knoxville Road, next to the former Glengarnock Steel Works, was purchased by applicants Chatham House Equities with a view to building 62 new family homes.

A quarter of the two, three and four-bedroom houses will be allocated as affordable housing, and the plans also include the upgrading of Knoxville Road and associated car parking and landscaping.

An indicative site layout

Planning permission was previously granted in 2010 for 47 self-build plots on the site, but the current applicants said that changes to the market have meant “demand for self-build has been replaced with that for high quality, ready to buy two, three and four-bed homes”.

A planning statement said: “Whilst the site has been recorded as having capacity for 47 plots, we believe that this was based on the site being used previously for self-build units.

“These require a larger plot size to accommodate the choice and flexibility of building provision that is available to the self-builder.

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“The economic climate and demand for these types of development has changed since the site was last considered for planning, and the demand is now for high-quality developer builds.”

From the late-19th to mid-20th century the site was the location of a mill and slaughter house, while a railway line - now replaced by an active cycle path - also ran through the proposed development area.

The application states that the national cycle path will be maintained and realigned once the works have been completed, with a potential future link to the Lochshore Active Travel Route.

A proposal of application notice was previously submitted in October followed by a virtual public consultation event, at which concerns over an increased volume of traffic and a lack of clear information on the re-routing plans for the cycle path were raised.

Six public objections were received, highlighting concerns over a loss of wildlife, the destruction of trees and a loss of privacy for neighbouring properties.

However, at a meeting of North Ayrshire Council's planning committee on Wednesday (August 24), councillors gave the green light to the proposals - with several conditions attached.

One condition states that any future, full planning application must include details of the condition of an existing water wheel at the site and plans for its "retention/salvage and incorporation into the proposed housing development as a piece of public art or heritage feature", in order to preserve the industrial heritage of the area.