Plans to restore the at-risk Caldwell House and build a retirement village are set to go-ahead despite concerns over the number of trees set to be chopped down and the impact on health services.
East Renfrewshire’s planning committee will meet tomorrow [Wednesday] to consider Caldwell Developments’ bid to develop the greenbelt land near Uplawmoor, and council planners have said the scheme can be approved.
The firm behind the proposal has described the application as the “last chance” to save the Robert Adam-designed building, which was damaged by a fire in 1995 and is in a derelict state.
A new village on the Caldwell Estate, exclusively for over 55s, would be created to fund work on the A-listed building. It would include a 60-bed care home, 51 assisted living flats and 122 bungalows as well as offices, a cafe, shop and a hair and beauty salon.
Caldwell House would be converted into 15 assisted living flats and the B-listed former Keeper’s House would also be restored and turned into a single home.
However, East Renfrewshire’s health and social care partnership (HSCP) has raised concerns over “outstanding concerns around the addition of unfunded costs for health and social care provision resulting from such a large development”. It also said there are “persistently high vacancy rates at existing care home facilities” which were exacerbated by covid.
A submission to the council added: “We are concerned that in-migration to the local authority would be an important factor as a result of the development and that ongoing cost pressures for health and care services would increase.”
Scottish Forestry is “not supportive of the application as it requires 5.1 hectares of “native woodland and ancient woodland deforestation, a valued biodiversity habitat that cannot be replaced within 15 years”. The Woodland Trust also “strongly objects on the basis of damage and loss to a number of areas of woodland”.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has pulled an objection after it was “satisfied” concerns had been addressed and Historic Environment Scotland has welcomed the application as it believes the “detrimental impacts on its parkland setting” are outweighed by “securing the long-term preservation of the house”.
Around six hectares of woodland would be removed for development, with 4.5 hectares replaced on site and two hectares proposed off site. Other areas (17.2 hectares) would be felled and replanted as part of woodland management proposals.
Despite the concerns, and the application being contrary to some council policies, planners have concluded the “benefits of restoring Grade A listed Caldwell House outweigh the environmental and other impacts”.
They added: “It is considered that the applicant has demonstrated the level of enabling development proposed is necessary to secure the restoration and viability of Caldwell House.”
A report by planning officials found the proposal will “result in significant environmental impacts”, although in the longer term they will be mitigated by “more diverse and sustainable” planting. There was “concern” that the project will have “an adverse climate change impact at the present time” as “benefits from replacement tree planting in terms of carbon emissions are not likely to be felt for decades”.
“This is exacerbated by the isolated nature of the development and resultant impact on emissions through additional traffic generation in particular,” the report added. It accepted the “development presented is likely to be the only means of preventing the loss of this important historic asset”.
Restoring Caldwell House and the estate is expected to cost around £15m while the sale of the properties has been valued at £4m, leaving a conservation deficit of £11m. The developers, who have said 85 jobs will be created, have said the “enabling development” – the village – is set to cost £52.8m and raise £63.9m, covering the conservation deficit.
The development would be split into five phases which would start with the construction of 37 bungalows and work to make Caldwell House structurally safe. The restoration would take place in phase two and the care home would be built in phase three.
East Renfrewshire’s planning service sought independent advice on the viability of the proposal and has reported it is “only marginally viable” and it is “accepted the applicant is not proposing works in excess of what is required to fund the conservation deficit”.
The district valuer questioned the “low level of profit proposed” and “there are considered to be some risks in terms of the full restoration of Caldwell House being achieved due to economic factors which may be outwith the control of the applicant”.
Scott Kennedy, director of Caldwell Developments, previously said: “We believe we have put forward a deliverable and environmentally sympathetic proposal to save this unique and historically important listed building of cultural importance.
“There is a huge demographic challenge with regards to elderly care and we hope this can play one part in providing the kind of quality, specialist facilities that many older people now wish to access later in life.”
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