Eco lodges appeal for site near Loch Thom to be heard soon

Plans to build a dozen eco chalets beside the compensation reservoir at Cornalees Farm near Dunrod Road were denied planning permission in April.

Officials said applicant Euan Caskie’s proposed development failed to meet the requirements of 'distinctiveness' in the council's local development plans because it did not respect the landscape setting or character and did not protect important views.

They also said the application did not provide any justification for "the esssential requirement for a green belt location".

Inverclyde Council’s Local Review Body will now reach a final decision on the plans after the site’s owners appealed the initial decision.

Two representations were received from the public, one neutral and one objection.

The development site is located at Cornalees farm, next to the Compensation Reservoir. (Image: Lorraine Tinney)

The objector said the proposal was "located in the middle of the Muirshiel Park and would turn one of the last natural areas into a party village", and said the area, close to the Compensation Reservoir, was "a breeding and hunting ground for rare wildlife and birds".

Appeal documents produced by Mr Caskie’s agent, Greenock-based Nicholson McShane Architects, have pushed back against the suggestions made by officers.

They state: “We refute the opinion that the proposal fails to respect the landscape character and setting, and that it fails to protect important views.

“The applicant evidenced our approach to these matters in a specialist report from a highly regarded firm of landscape consultants who analysed these aspects in detail.

“Yet the officers have reached a contrary opinion whilst preferring no evidence as to how their opinions were influenced.”

Nicolson McShane also claim officers have made a “major error” by stating that the site is within green belt land, and is instead in ‘designated countryside’.

They add: "We believe that the chosen site is ideal for a sympathetic development of the type proposed, lying as it does in a small area characterised not by remoteness but by historic and modern infrastructure, tourist development and centuries of industrial endeavour.

The development site at Cornalees farm. (Image: Nicolson McShane Architects/Inverclyde Council)

"How can a development of lodges specifically located to give immediate access to the countryside be anywhere other than in the countryside?

"This nature of this type of development is completely unsuited to an urban location. 

"The applicant has devoted significant resource and effort to provide comprehensive information to the processing officers.

"We responded to all requests from the processing officers for additional information and for amendment of the proposal.

“It is ironic, then, that the reasons for refusal are so unbalanced, vague and ill defined."

The single-storey lodges would have two to three bedrooms, a kitchen/lounge dining space, shower room and hall with external decking and will be finished in stone and timber cladding on external walls with sloping grass roofs.

Each chalet would have two parking bays for guests and a decking area.

A computer-generated image of one of the proposed lodges. (Image: Nicolson McShane Architects/Inverclyde Council)

The application also seeks permission for a "small, ancillary building of similar design" for administration and servicing of the lodges, as well as for an access road.

One Inverclyde councillor has hit out at the decision to reject Mr Caskie’s application.

Councillor David Wilson said: "I cannot believe this application was rejected by our planners. We are trying to encourage tourism.

"There are shortages of places where you can stay in Inverclyde there is hardly any hotel accommodation available.

"Cornalees would be an ideal situation."

Members of the LRB will meet to consider Mr Caskie's appeal on October 2.