Scale of proposed Waarie Geo home reduced in bid to ease concerns
THE SCALE of a proposed home at Lerwick’s Waarie Geo will be reduced to ease the concerns of objectors.
An alternative proposal for the two-storey house, which would replace a dilapidated shed near the Knab, has been submitted to council planners following objections.
A number of residents from Lerwick’s Breiwick Road and the surrounding areas wrote to the council calling on them to throw out the plans, with several citing concerns about its proximity to the sea.
The overall scale of the home has now been reduced and its “footprint made more compact”, architect Alan McKay said in response to these objections.
Access to the beach below will not be restricted, he added – and he said access would not have been cut off under the original plans either.
One objector had written to the council to say the couple who had applied for planning permission were “effectively privatising” the beach if their home went ahead.
The plans for land at the Waarie Geo would see the shed there – previously used as a changing room for young people who learned to swim in the sea there in decades gone by – demolished.
The site was sold by Shetland Islands Council to local company Renewable Kinetics Ltd in 2023 for £48,000.
The plans focus on a “low-slung eco-house to harmonise and visually integrate with the natural environment of this unique and beautiful site”.
Architect McKay wrote in his original submission to council planners that the overall height of the Waarie Geo home would be kept to a minimum, with “grass/sedum very gently sloping roofs” are proposed over the ground floor.
A lower level will be “largely invisible to the inhabitants of houses in the area plus road users and pedestrians”.
“To avoid any overlooking issues, the accommodation is arranged to be largely single aspect with all habitable rooms facing the beautiful views out to sea.”
As many as 12 objections to the original plans were lodged, with one person also writing to the council in favour of the application.
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