Plans to build new homes in Cathcart turned down

A bid to knock down a Cathcart pub to make way for flats and a shop has been rejected by council planners.

Plans for 20 homes and a convenience store on the site of The White Elephant were revealed in April last year. The developers, White Elephant Property Ltd, claimed the Merrylee Road pub is “unviable” and “underutilised” and wanted to provide 11 one-bedroom flats and nine-two bedroom homes.

But planning officials have turned down the application as they believe it would lead to “overdevelopment” of the site. They decided the project was “poorly designed”. Glasgow’s planning team also said an up to date bat survey had not been provided, the proposal had “not been adequately screened for flood risk”, specifically surface water flooding, and there would be “insufficient” parking for residents. The developers had said 21 car parking spaces would be available for the flats, which is “less than the 25 required” but, they believed, considered “acceptable given the location of the site”.

However, the planners concluded the “restrained parking provision is likely to lead to problems of overspill parking in the local area to the detriment of residential amenity and traffic safety”. White Elephant Property Ltd had claimed there is “adequate existing local provision of facilities of equivalent community value close by”, with six pubs within one mile.

“The proposals represent the repurposing of the unviable public house into a viable business, adding to the number of jobs presently provided at the site,” the application stated. “The convenience store will bolster the local economy, complimenting the existing retail offering in the city whilst enabling residents to meet their day-to-day shopping needs.”

There would have been three-storeys of flats above a single-storey convenience store. The developers said the store would function as “a small, local food store helping meet the day-to-day needs of local residents, comprising a local walk-in catchment population and a limited amount of pass-by trade. The store is expected to carry a basic range of groceries, ready meals, sandwiches and snacks, beers, wines and spirits and a range of fruit and vegetables,” the application added.