Earlier today, I attended - along with a number of other councillors - a briefing by the City Council's Head of Planning and colleagues on the proposed Dundee Local Development Plan, that will be considered next Monday by the council's City Development Committee.
The new Development Plan will be an important update with alterations to planning policies and, at the briefing, I asked a number of questions about it including :
* Support to protect and promote district shopping centres, like Perth Road.
* Progress towards the Western Gateway developments following infrastructure improvements.
* The council's commitment to ensure developers in major developments contribute towards public art.
I spoke in a discussion regarding an
application to alter a Section 75 agreement to
remove the restriction on the use as Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) of 14 flats and one house and
replace it with a restriction for student housing.
Although the City Council has wisely imposed Section 75 agreements where a restriction on further HMOs will protect residential housing, in this case the recommendation made a great deal of sense as the properties at 19-25 Perth Road are immediately adjacent to the University of Dundee campus and ideal for student accommodation. There is no residential housing adjacent. Keeping the status preventing HMO use here would only have resulted in further HMO requests in residential areas of the West End.