A BID to build a detached house in a Helensburgh street has been recommended for refusal after attracting 22 objections.

The proposal by Mr J. Lafferty, for a garden ground site at the junction of Campbell Street and Barclay Drive,has also had three representations submitted to Argyll and Bute Council planning officers.

Concerns include Barclay Drive being unable to accommodate additional traffic, the impact on trees, and the occupants of nearby houses being affected by noise from construction.

Helensburgh Community Council also raised concerns, stating that the "could-be-anywhere design lacks distinction, has listtle or no sense of design cohesion or style, and does not stand out in any way".

And one of the authority’s officers has remarked that the proposed house would be detrimental to the character and appearance of the Upper Helensburgh Conservation Area.

The application will be considered by councillors at a meeting of the council’s planning, protective services and licensing (PPSL) committee on Wednesday, November 23.

The officer said in a handling report: “The application site comprises most of the private amenity space to the rear of an existing, two-storey detached sandstone villa set in large private grounds.

“The proposed development is for the erection of a four-bedroom house with a new vehicular access from Barclay Drive.

“The proposed dwelling house has a relatively large footprint and is to be sited centrally within the application site with the principal elevation facing east towards the frontage with Campbell Street.

“A particular characteristic of the Upper Helensburgh Conservation Area is largely a grid-iron street layout with a loose-grain texture of development comprising mostly large detached villas oriented southwards within expansive landscaped grounds.

“Elsewhere within the conservation area, some of these villas had service structures, such as coach houses, located to the rear of the villas.

“However, these buildings are traditionally sited in an unobtrusive location, with a modest scale and design reflecting their subordinate functional relationship with the primary villa building.

“Some infill residential development, involving the subdivision of original properties has taken place elsewhere within the conservation area.

"However, spatial character of this particular townscape block has not been compromised by previous insensitive sub-division and new development and as such provides a good example of the historic development pattern in Helensburgh.

“Notwithstanding that the massing of the proposed dwelling house has been ‘broken down’ into linked volumetric forms, the proposed house, with a ‘footprint’ area similar to that of the original part of the stone villa, is still considered to be of an inappropriately large scale in relation to the size of the plot and the existing house.

“Furthermore, its prominent setting within the centre of the site will afford it an inappropriate level of ‘presence’ and status in relation to the original villa.

“This central siting, within 12 metres of the existing villa, fails to provide an appropriately subordinate relationship with the principal built form on the original site and would materially compromise the historic setting of the main villa and the clear spatial built development pattern of this townscape block and the wider conservation area.”

The officer concluded: “The proposed development by reason of siting, scale, massing, form, design detailing, material finishes and impact upon trees would be detrimental to the character and appearance of the conservation area and as such is considered to be an unsustainable form of development, inconsistent with the LDP (Local Development Plan) settlement and spatial strategy.

“In addition, on the basis of the information currently available, it has not been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the planning authority that the proposed development can be adequately served by existing public, or proposed private surface water drainage infrastructure which is likely to result in flooding on and adjacent to the application site.”