Camelon Starbucks decision delayed as Falkirk councillors want to visit site
A plan to build a new Starbucks in the car park of Tesco’s Camelon store will have to wait at least another month for a decision as councillors want to see the site first.
It was one of four planning applications that were put on hold to allow councillors to see for themselves where development is being proposed.
In December, councillors had agreed new planning committee procedures, in a bid to speed up the process in Falkirk district and make it “simpler and more straightforward”.
One of the changes was to encourage members to call for a sites visit in advance of the meeting, to stop applicants and objectors wasting their time by coming along to a committee meeting only to be told there would be a delay.
However, the new rules mean that four members of the committee must call for a site visit ahead of the meeting and that did not happen for any of the applications.
Members were, however, assured that they have the right to call for a site visit at any point in the proceedings if they would find it helpful.
Councillor Gary Bouse suggested that members were still unfamiliar with the new system and the call for site visits had gone out during the Easter holidays, so “a bit of flexibility” was called for.
Councillors were also told by a legal advisor that they could hear deputations from applicants or objectors as well as any officers’ reports in advance of any site visit.
However, they agreed not to hear any deputations, meaning six people who attended the committee hoping to speak will have to return to a future meeting to be heard.
Councillor Robert Spears, newly appointed to the committee, said that members “need to have a very clear sight of what we’re making a decision on and we can only do that with a site meeting before we hear either side regarding this subject”.
Councillors agreed to hold a site visit for four applications: landscape restoration at Cowdenhill Quarry, Banknock; the demolition of a house and construction of a new house at Seven Gables, Polmont; the construction of a new drive-thru coffee shop beside Tesco in Camelon; and four houses at land to the south of 3 Hillcrest Square, Reddingmuirhead.