Transport planners have said they cannot support revised plans for a new care home and associated infrastructure to be built in Perth over concerns about the developer’s latest designs.
Development company Westerwood was granted planning permission to erect a 77-bedroom facility on a site formerly occupied by a hospital between Dundee Road and the River Tay beside Riverview Park last year.
A council committee followed a recommendation from planners to approve the company’s planning application despite one member raising doubts over whether a condition designed to discourage people from using cars to get to and from the development would work.
Earlier that year local authority transport planners said a proposed layout for a new junction which would allow drivers to access the site from Dundee Road was “sufficient”.
However the team have now said they cannot support updated designs sent to the council earlier this year after spotting Westerwood is now proposing to build narrower roads leading to and from the new facility.
Their comments on the application explain: “Prior to the submission of the previous application, the transport planning consultant scoped the transport assessment with PKC’s transport planning team.
“[This] resulted in an agreement for the junction layout whereby a right turning lane would be incorporated into the public road network to allow access to the site of the care home and adjacent land.
“Through these discussions it was agreed that the through running lanes would be maintained at 3.5m [or] greater with the right turning lane width at 3.5m. The submission before us has reduced the through running lanes to 3.2m and the right turning lane to 3.4m.”
The team’s comments on Westerwood’s latest planning application continue: “Road construction consent will be required prior to the commencement of works on site as the new priority junction will be provided prior to the construction of the care home to enable access to the site for construction vehicles.
“Both the planning application and the road construction consent application will need to be reviewed to provide the minimum lane widths agreed.”
Their comments conclude: “Transport planning are not in a position to support this application.”
The application now awaits a final decision from the council’s planning and development management team.
