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Scottish Ministers find in favour of Argyll Community Housing Association at Dalintober, Campbeltown
Scottish Ministers have found in favour of Argyll Community Housing Association following an appeal for permission to demolish five blocks (46 flats) of Category B listed, 3-storey, Scots Baronial tenements buildings dating from 1939 in the Dalintober Housing Estate in Campbeltown. The other listed buildings on the estate (Block F facing High Street and another block on the east side of Prince’s Street) do not form part of the proposed demolition.
Argyll Community Housing Association (ACHA) applied to Argyll and Bute Council in 23rd December 2021 for permission to demolish the listed buildings and was granted permission to demolish on 5th October 2022 only for the application to be called in by the Scottish Ministers for their determination on 2nd November 2022, following an objection by Historic Environment Scotland.
The Scottish Ministers have carefully considered the evidence presented and agree that listed building consent be granted subject to conditions.
Michelle Mundie, ACHA’s Chief Executive stated:-
“We are delighted that a decision on the future of the buildings has now been reached and this will allow us to move forward with our new build proposals for affordable housing of a size and type needed in the area rather than what is there at the moment. ACHA acknowledges that the loss of the listed buildings is regrettable and indeed it is not our first choice to demolish any property if we can make it financially viable to refurbish it. Unfortunately in this case it was not viable and the demolition will enable us to re-develop the site which will help deliver significant regeneration benefits to the town centre and ACHA tenants.
In order to manage expectations from the community around timescales, as part of the consent, we cannot demolish the blocks until a contract has been let for redevelopment. This means that we have to have planning permission for the new development in place and have agreed a tender with a contractor before we can demolish. It is unlikely that we will achieve this before 2025 although we will try to do this sooner if we can. We would therefore anticipate a site start for the demolition/new build during 2025 with the completion of new homes in 2026/2027.
We would like to thank Argyll and Bute Council, Robin Currie and Jenni Minto MSP for their patience and advice during the call in period and we will work as quickly as possible to demolish the properties and build new modern energy efficient homes for the Campbeltown area”.
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