Link Group Ltd is a group of award-winning social enterprise companies serving over 15,000 customers across Scotland. This makes it one of the largest social landlords in Scotland. It works to provide affordable housing, property management, regeneration, advice, financial inclusion, and employability services. Since Link was established in 1962, is has become a leader in developing and delivering innovative homes and services for those in need. C~urb (pronounced curb) is the latest partner within the Link group of companies. In addition to delivering Link's development programme, C~urb's experienced development team also deliver development services for a number of other clients including other Registered Social Landlords. C~urb delivered over 1,000 new homes in the last year and will construct around 3,000 affordable homes in the next 5 years.
One continuing development opportunity for C~urb is an area of land north of the A85 at Dunbeg, referred to in Argyll & Bute Council's Local Development Plan as the Dunbeg Corridor. The Corridor is to play a key role in delivering mixed use development across the area, including a balance of housing, community, and commercial premises, with associated services, facilities, and infrastructure.
To date three phases of new housing have been delivered at Dunbeg by Link. The third phase, which delivered 300 new homes, was completed in 2023, and so the time to start Phase 4 of the overall development has been reached. The intention is to submit Planning Applications for Phase 4 in the autumn of 2024, and to be on site in 2025.
Consultation
Two public consultation events for Dunbeg Phase 4 are to be held at The Reef, Scottish Association for Marine Science, Dunbeg, Oban, Argyll, PA37 1QA on 1st August 2024, and again on 29th August 2024, between the hours of 4pm and 8pm.
This is your opportunity to comment on the proposals before they are formally submitted to Argyll and Bute Council, and when you will then be given a further opportunity to comment in the normal way on a Planning Application.
If you wish to submit comments, you can do so below through this website, at the events, or by emailing Paul Houghton, Houghton Planning Ltd, at paul@houghtonplanning.co.uk before 20th September 2024.
Concept Masterplan
Argyll & Bute Council approved a masterplan for the wider Dunbeg Corridor in 2017. Detailed planning permission was then granted for Phase 3, comprising 300 dwellings, and associated development, in 2018. Phase 3 began on site in late 2018, and was completed in 2023. It is served by Kirk Road, which has been upgraded to provide a suitable access for this development.
The statutory development plan for Dunbeg is National Planning Framework 4 (February 2023), and the Argyll and Bute Local Development Plan 2 (February 2024).
The main allocations in Local Development Plan 2 that apply to Dunbeg Phase 4 are:
• Housing allocation - H4007 - Dunbeg 1
• Housing allocation H4015 - Dunbeg 2
• Mixed use allocation - X4002 - Dunbeg
Phase 4 will continue the development progress of Dunbeg and deliver a considered mix of:
Private housing and apartments for sale.
Social rent / MMR / NSSE housing and apartment bocks
Elderly Living apartment block with associated community facilities
Student housing block
In addition to the residential site, a new mixed use commercial area is proposed.
These will all be served from a new junction on the A85, and a new distributor road that will connect with the distributor road serving Phase 3, as a continuation of Dunstaffnage Avenue.
Proposal of Application Notices (PoANs) for the various developments were submitted to the Council in June 2024, and the current intention is to submit four Planning Applications, as follows:
1. A Detailed Planning Application for the new junction, and the first part of the new distributer road.
2. An Application for Planning Permission in Principle for the new Commercial Area, which will potentially include a hotel, food and drink offer, and other commercial and business uses.
3. A Detailed Planning Application for affordable, retirement, and student housing.
4. An Application for Planning Permission in Principle for private housing, with other uses.
Other associated developments, and infrastructure, will be applied for as part of the most relevant Application, including opportunities for other uses to be dispersed through the housing area, including a retail opportunity, and community, uses.
There will also be new areas of green space within, and around the edge of, the development; the most important landscape features, particularly the ancient woodland, will be protected; biodiversity enhancement will be incorporated into the scheme; peat restoration will be carried out; and an integrated network of footpaths, and cycleways, based around the current core path network, will be provided.
Masterplan Principles
ACCESS
New footpaths will be integrated through the housing layout, creating links to the existing core path network, existing Dunbeg Village and the coastal path.
EDGE
The housing located around the new development edge will be carefully considered to maximise the panoramic views.
The development edges will also be attentively designed to enhance and maximise long views towards the site from the surrounding locale.
ARRIVAL
The new Main Street geometry establishes the potential for a focal point at the bend in the road, which will be enhanced with carefully considered design of the public realm, to integrate footpath connections and landscaping around bespoke building designs.
THRESHOLD
The design of the housing adjacent to the new Main Street will be thoughtfully designed with active frontages, safe pedestrian routes and attractive curated spaces with integrated landscaping.
ENTRY
The residential area will be entered through woodland - the proposed new community woodland will connect through from the existing Dunbeg housing to the designated ancient woodland.
SUSTAINABILITY
C~urb are particularly interested in increasing sustainability within the construction process at Phase 4 and the Design Team have a proven track record in delivering exemplary building designs that dramatically reduce energy costs and are delivered at an acceptable cost for funding.
The proposed designs for Phase 4 will ensure that maximisation of energy efficiency measures is integral within the housing layout and building designs proposed.
All housing will be designed to high sustainability standards, as with Dunbeg Phase 3, and comply with the current Scottish Governments Building Standards technical handbooks. The housing will encompass sustainable design principles for low energy use and incorporate renewable energy solutions.
Residential Area
The Phase 4 Residential Area is located on the higher ground to the west of the existing Dunbeg Phase 3 development. The proposals connect to the proposed A85 junction as well as Kirk Road via an extended Dunstaffnage Avenue, which will become a carefully considered landscaped central thoroughfare within the new development.
The extended avenue will be extensively landscaped, interspersed with housing gables and flatted blocks and with the creation of public realm spaces and potential sites for community facilities.
The design of the building facades facing on to the avenue promotes the active engagement of people and place and creates visual interest.
The internal street layout considers orientation, the integration of sustainable drainage and the use of attractive, durable materials that can be easily maintained. The site layout has established a hierarchy of routes, with principal streets leading from the avenue linking the neighbourhood housing pockets, with smaller housing clusters accessed from these streets.
The “green spines” run north / south & east / west and create attractive pedestrian and amenity routes linking the housing neighbourhoods and clusters with existing Dunbeg, Phase 3 and the wider context. Rather than building forms and development patterns influencing the layout, the design development concentrated on the spaces between the housing clusters and their integration with the landscape.
Housing will be arranged in clusters comprising of short terraces or as semi-detached properties with private back gardens, semi-private areas to the front and parking is provided in curtilage to every plot. Houses will be predominantly two storeys with dual-pitched roofs. Small apartment blocks are interspersed with the housing and will be three storeys high.
The area designated for private housing for sale will comprise of the same typology to ensure tenure integration: small apartment blocks and terraced, semi-detached, and detached houses.
All buildings will be finished in materials that are visually attractive. The landscape has a very distinctive colour palette of muted, natural tones, which have been followed in the carefully selected materials for the buildings. The development material palette will blend in with the adjacent landscape and ultimately help the settlement sit within the wider landscape.
Paths Network
Paths will be built in advance of the main works to minimise disruption to the designated Core Paths. This will include a modified 5km route for the local parkrun being incorporated into the path network, to avoid the new road.
A sequencing plan will be developed that has temporary path diversions and permanent path re-routing. Proposed modifications to the Core Paths will be developed based on consultation and submitted to the Argyll and Bute Council Access Officer and subject to an approval process.
The Dunbeg Corridor Masterplan objective of linking the two Core Paths is proposed as part of this phase of development.
Path routing will avoid damage to trees and, where a path is in proximity to a tree, would include tree root protection measures.
Commercial Area
The Commercial Area has been a longstanding allocation at Dunbeg, and will include a variety of uses that will support the local community, as well as offering a destination for Argyll residents and visitors.
The Commercial Area will include a hotel, food and drink offers, and other commercial and business uses. It may also be a location for a Park and Ride.
The exact mix of uses will only resolve itself once marketing of the site has been undertaken, when it will become clearer the type of occupiers that wish to take a site or building. The intention, in the meantime, is to secure Planning Permission in Principle for the optimum mix of uses, so that future marketing can take place once planning consent has been secured for the site, with the aim being that it will have maximum flexibility in terms of uses, layout, and phasing.