PLANS have been lodged for a village hall near Oban to be demolished, with a house built in its place.
The Old Village Hall site at Dalmally is the subject of an application to Argyll and Bute Council by Mr and Mrs Andrew and Rowena Parr and Rule.
A retrospective application for a change of use to the village hall to form a house, by a different applicant, was granted in 2022, while a similar application was also granted in 2012.
Council officers are expected to rule on the latest application by early in the New Year. No design or supporting statement has yet been published.
A planning application form describes the proposal as: “Demolition of old village hall that has received planning permission for a change of use to a dwellinghouse and erection of replacement dwellinghouse on approximately the same footprint as the existing building.”
In a handling report for the 2022 plans, a council planning officer said: “Planning permission was granted [in 2012] for a change of use of a village hall to a dwellinghouse.
“Although the old village hall is already in use as a dwellinghouse there is no documented evidence that works were undertaken in relation to the planning conditions imposed on the planning permission.
“Therefore, at present, the applicant is in breach of the planning conditions imposed on planning permission and the development as existing is not lawful.
“The retrospective proposal subject of this planning application for the change of use of a village hall to a dwellinghouse will allow the applicant to address the breach of planning conditions.
“The proposed development will have no materially adverse impact upon the historic environment including (but not necessarily limited to) the historic/architectural/cultural value and/or setting or other specified qualities of any listed building, any scheduled ancient monument, any garden and designed landscape, any conservation area or any special built environment area. Neither will the proposed development result in any material harm to the natural environment.”
Plans can be viewed, and feedback given by the public, by visiting the council’s website at argyll-bute.gov.uk and using the reference number 25/01814/PP.
