We feel strongly that Kilmacolm should fight to retain its current long established greenbelt and greenspace that surround our unique village in the Local Development Plan (LDP) that is started in 2019.
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Some background...
On 31st March 2017 Inverclyde Council issued their Main Issues Report (MIR) for the whole of Inverclyde and held a series of sessions to inform the public about it. Information was sent to the Kilmacolm Library, Kilmacolm Community Council etc. but was not made more public the way it should have been to inform the residents of Kilmacolm.
The MIR information was nearly missed by the residents of Kilmacolm - but when it was understood what was being proposed - that two 'preferred' sites had been 'decided' by the planners at Inverclyde Council and were to be allocated for houses on the greenbelt was very concerning.
The kilmacolm.info website was updated on 30th April 2017 and all houses adjacent to the two preferred sites were leafleted by us to find out if anyone knew about these proposals.
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The answer was shocking - no one knew anything about them!
So a group of residents then met and formed the Kilmacolm Residents Association (KRA).
We then raised awareness of the Main Issues Report and encouraged as many people that we could to write in person or by email to Inverclyde Council by the 31st May 2017 with their comments on the MIR proposals.
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When Gladman made their proposal to build at the Knapps Loch and North Dennison - we worked with the Kilmacolm Civic Trust and the Kilmacolm Community Council to raise awareness once again. This led to the famous 600 meeting in StColumba's Church Hall.
What was our aim - to ensure that NO greenbelt land at Kilmacolm shall be included in next stage of the Inverclyde Local Plan which will be issued for consultation at the end of April 2018. This aim was achieved with 8 Councillors agreeing with us in a crucial vote at Inverclyde Council after we presented evidence to them.
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We are NOT against all development - we fully support the the right development in the right place.
We recognise that these are dangerous times and that Councils that are adhering to their 'Plan Led' approach are under huge pressure by developers who are trying to change Local Development Plans by making unwanted and unhealthy proposals.
Kilmacolm is unique in having large areas of greenbelt and green-space cutting into the village.
Kilmacolm is not, however, well connected as it is over 6 miles from the A737 which leads to the busy M8 (that's nearly 15 minutes before you join the traffic) so Kilmacolm is only really accessable by private cars. It also has extremely poor public transport links - this is a good reason that the Scottish Government wants new developments to be placed near railway and motorway links.
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