PLANS to build more than 120 new homes in Clydebank have been approved.

At a meeting of West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) on March 27 councillors agreed to grant planning permission – subject to conditions - to Miller Homes to build 128 residential properties on the former Play Drome site at Abbotsford Road.

These will include a selection of two and three-storey semi-detached, terraced, and townhouses. Overall, there will be 14 two-bedroom properties, 113 three-bedroom properties, and one four-bedroom property.

Speaking at the meeting Pamela Clifford, planning manager at WDC, explained that on top of the conditions set out in the application, an additional condition concerning local access was also being applied.

It states that during construction at the site on Abbotsford/Argyll Road, vehicle and pedestrian access will be made available via Abbotsford Road or any other equivalent access road.

Access to all properties that were in the area at the time of granting planning permission will also be maintained.  

It is understood that Miller Homes has accepted this condition.

Once completed the estate will be accessed through Chalmers Street with emergency access and a footway link provided off Argyll Road.

There will be one parking space for each house, 128 in total, with an additional 22 visitor parking spaces located throughout the development.

Miller Homes is said to have given the council assurances that they will be selling the houses on the basis that people will have access to one space.

These will not be allocated to specific residents and it will be the responsibility of homeowners to use the spaces closest to their property.

There will also be three electric vehicle charging points within the visitors' parking spaces.

Twenty-eight further spaces are proposed to be created to serve the existing properties which include the Credit Union, Salvation Army, and Church of Scotland (Clydebank Waterfront Parish Church) buildings.

Councillor Martin Rooney, leader of WDC, said the development would “transform” the site which has lain vacant since the fire-damaged Play Drome was demolished in October 2021.

Cllr Rooney added: “It’s absolutely fantastic that we’re going to see 128 homes built in the centre of Clydebank.

“The area of the Play Drome was closed in 2017. We’d hoped to market it for commercial use at one point but the demand wasn’t there and over time the demand for retail has actually diminished quite markedly and that’s why we’re having to look at other alternatives for it.

“The plans that we’ve seen today [March 27] which have been agreed by planning, I actually think it’s the right thing to do.

"It will transform that part of the town which has been left derelict for the last seven years. People do want to live in the heart of Clydebank.”

Before the plans were given the green light, various concerns were raised by councillors over parking, lack of social housing within the development, and the location of the play park.

These were addressed by the planning manager.