Plans to create 74 new homes at Bellshill Athletic Club have been approved by planners.

Dawn Homes applied for approval to proceed with construction of its housing development on land at the former Bellshill Athletic Club.

The 3.1 hectare site has been neglected and is in poor condition.

The proposed development is a mixture of terraced, semi-detached and detached dwellings.

All are two storeys in height and the plans also include infrastructure such as access routes.

North Lanarkshire Council’s planning officers assessed the proposals and decided they were an “acceptable departure” from local policies which would not negatively affect the character and amenity of the surrounding area.

They therefore recommended granting the application subject to a legal agreement on the provision of a sports pitch and off-site play equipment.

The public consultation on these plans attracted a total of 35 objections, three neutral letters and one expression of support.

Officers felt concerns raised in the objections were addressed through the imposition of a number of conditions attached to the planning permission.

The committee unanimously agreed to grant the application.

However this was not the only housing development approved for Bellshill by planners, despite the proposal attracting a number of objections.

For more on this story, see page 5.