Planning Permission Success – Visitor Toilets and Parking Improvements

by Graham Swanson September 24, 2021 uncategorized

On 8th September 2021 we were granted planning permission ( 21/00142/PP) which covered the proposed visitor toilets in the Octagonal Tower which originally housed the Bellows for Church Organ. This followed many months (and years) of work to work out where best to locate toilets and also addressed the very many issues related to the parking are near the Tearoom/Entrance.

Image of the location of the proposed Visitor Toilets at St Conan’s Kirk

With careful design a wheelchair accessible and standard toilet have been fitted inside the existing ground floor.

With amazing support from our Architect, the officials at Argyll and Bute Planning Department and Transport Scotland we now have plans to allow us to improve the area by the A85. This needed a wide range of supporting documents including Swept Path Analysis of how vehicles can turn, and a formal Walking, Cycling, Horse-Riding Assessment and Review.

Paul Barham, Conservation Architect of Barham Glenn Associates helped get this important step completed. There were a number of challenges including some cases we weren’t aware of land boundaries/ownership as the title deeds were 100’s of year old but these managed to be resolved. Apologies to anyone inconvenienced by these issues.

The Octagonal Tower forms a corner of the Cloisters, the South Aisle and St Brides Chapel. The wall and roof leaks at the tower will help all the adjoining areas.

Our next steps are to secure funding to move onto the next steps!