Revised plans for bus maintenance facility at Innerleithen given thumbs-up
Revised plans for a bus maintenance facility on a Borders industrial estate have been approved weeks after an initial bid was ditched due to neighbours raising fire safety fears and other concerns.
Barc Coach Hire, based at Station Yard in Traquair Road in Innerleithen, originally applied to open a new maintenance facility on land east of its current site.
However, that application sparked objections from several nearby residents because of the site’s proximity to the location of a blaze at Station Yard in February last year.
A unit used by the coach company was left damaged by that fire, along with others occupied by motorbike repair business Darl Services and shot-blasting and powder-coating firm ColourWorks.
Neighbours of the proposed development objected on various grounds besides fire safety fears, including prospective loss of light and views, the height of the planned building and potential noise nuisance.
Objecting to the original application, Iain Macleod, of Tweedbank Ley in Innerleithen, said: “Are we to have diesel engines turning over at all hours during cold mornings?
“Traquair Road is too small, with little enough open junctions to support additional traffic.
“I am also concerned that this location has already proved deficient in sufficient public water supply during last year’s fire.
“The water points accessible to the fire brigade are at the furthest away point of the site from this proposed facility.”
As a result of those concerns, the company, also running taxis and school bus services, withdrew its original application and submitted a new bid for a different location on the estate, on land west of its current base at Waverley Mills.
Withdrawing the original plans, the applicant’s agent, Jim Hopkins, of Lintburn Gardens in Innerleithen, said: “The applicant has now advised me that he has decided to renew the lease on the industrial unit identified as a store and continue to maintain his buses from this location.”
“The applicant also has a fleet of five minibuses requiring servicing facilities.
“This application allows the applicant to relocate his current school bus contract within the same site location, with no additional traffic movements being generated.”
In his report advising approval, Scottish Borders Council planning officer Carlos Clarke says: “Though in an industrial estate, there are nearby residential properties whose amenity requirements must be balanced with the economic benefits of the development.
“The proposal will not seriously impact on the amenity of neighbouring properties as regards daylight, outlook or sunlight loss.”