The company behind a bid to raze the remains of the former Territorial Army (TA) Centre in Paisley has withdrawn its application at the eleventh hour amid a backlash to the proposal.
Elected members met to make a decision on JR Construction’s request for listed building consent to knock down the façade at Renfrewshire Council’s planning and climate change policy board on Tuesday.
But they were told they couldn’t discuss the matter after it had been taken off the table the previous afternoon – leaving the immediate future of the B-listed structure in High Street uncertain.
Councillor Jim Paterson, board convener, said: “The applicant withdrew the application formally yesterday afternoon and served us notice of this late on yesterday afternoon.
“I appreciate you all coming together but, given that the applicant has withdrawn the application, we can’t technically discuss or make any decision on the application in front of us today, which I appreciate is frustrating given we’ve all made the time to be here today at relatively short notice.”
It came after a report by the chief planning officer, which was due to be considered at the meeting, said there was “no clear justification” to back demolition.
The plans had been met with outrage in the community and a petition launched by retired conservation officer Duncan Macintosh gathered more than 1,000 signatures.
The campaigners eager to preserve a future for the building are now keen to see the façade retention scheme, much of which has been removed, reinstated to safeguard the iconic property.
John Wilby, chair of Paisley West and Central Community Council, said: “We now look forward to the reinstatement of the partly removed supporting scaffolding and the restoration of those parts of the façade dislodged as a result.”
The local authority’s planning report explained the majority of scaffolding at the site had been removed, with only the bottom third or so remaining in place.
As such, a temporary stop notice was issued on October 14. This was followed by a listed building enforcement notice and stop notice on November 11.
Councillor Mags MacLaren, an SNP representative for Paisley Northwest, said: “It’s a bizarre decision by the developer.
“Normally developers moan about how long a planning application takes to process but in this case a planning meeting was called as early as possible to deal with this application and all of a sudden the developer drops their plans.
“It seems as if they are in no real hurry to have this case dealt with – maybe they were looking to drag out the process while leaving the frontage of the TA building without adequate protection?
“The developer wanted to demolish the building, claiming it was unsafe, but when their application was fast-tracked they suddenly drop it. Does this mean that the building is no longer unsafe in their eyes? Yet again this developer is treating the people of Paisley with contempt.”
The TA Centre was built in the late 19th century to the design of famous Paisley architect Thomas Graham Abercrombie.
Standing between Coats Memorial Church and Paisley Museum, the landmark – described by Mr Macintosh as a “much-loved part of the town centre streetscape” – was damaged by a fire in March 2020.
JR Construction was given the green light to build accommodation for up to 338 students at the site in October of that year.
However, in a letter submitted with the application for listed building consent in October this year, agent Iceni Projects said JR Construction had advised demolition was “urgently necessary” for health and safety reasons.
But the council’s planning report said: “There is no clear justification to support the demolition of the listed building. The building is of special architectural and historic interest and appears to be capable of repair.
“There are also no economic reasons sufficient to warrant approval to demolish the listed building. It has not been demonstrated that demolition is necessary as a last resort or that there are alternative pertinent grounds for allowing demolition.”
JR Construction was contacted for comment.
Don’t miss the latest Renfrewshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter here