Leave archived first application website »

You might like to consider some or all of the following:

Milngavie town centre is vibrant, with valued shops which will inevitably be weakened by competition from within the proposed Tesco store. The proposal is for a "Tesco Extra". Experience elsewhere shows that when a "Tesco Extra" opens, other shops over a wide area close, and there is a net loss of jobs. It is probable that locally valued shops will be lost for ever. Read about the national perspective » The closing of Milngavie's Co-op » shows what the future may hold. Traffic: Doubling the number of parking spaces shows Tesco intend attracting customers from further afield, which will lead to increased car travel, with increased congestion and CO2 emissions. Layout: The proposed store would be built on the existing car park, which is a much more obtrusive location. It would turn its back on the town centre and would have only one entrance on the far side. If it sells anything and everything, few people will bother visiting the precinct. See layout » Milngavie: is a small town with a character and identity of its own, and its historic centre is a conservation area which includes listed buildings. See a map of the Conservation Area » The special qualities of this area are described in the Council's Conservation Area Appraisal (2006) » (pdf 4M) The conservation area curves around Tesco's site and overlooks it. The setting of the conservation area will be affected by the scale and appearance of the proposed store, the loss of trees and the extra traffic. The site is visible from a wide area due to the topography. The character and amenity of Milngavie will be degraded by the huge, very conspicuous and unsympathetic structure in a central location. Scale: The building proposed has a larger footprint and is on three levels (the lower level mainly for parking). It is 120m long and 15m high (equivalent to a four-storey block of flats). It is therefore hugely out of scale with all other buildings in the town centre, which it will dominate. See the southeast elevation » There would also be a decked car park on the site of the existing store. The size of the store and car park is too large for the site, so the application constitutes extreme over-development of the site. Appearance: The proposed building is as unattractive as it could possibly be. It is an extremely large box raised up on concrete stilts. The roof has a total of 13 strangely shaped funnels, each 3.4m high. (These features were played down in Tesco's promotional leaflet). The materials proposed are also inappropriate.

Listed Buildings: The site is sandwiched between two important listed buildings. 1) Gavin's Mill is very significant in Milngavie because the town grew up around it. It symbolises Milngavie's beginnings based on industries along the Allander. The proposed store would be very close to the mill and would totally overwhelm it. The mill would look out into an under-storey car park, with the two levels of store both higher than its roof. See the southeast elevation » 2) The Victorian railway station forms an attractive "gateway" to Milngavie for commuters and tourists alike. Views towards the town centre would be dominated by the huge, incongruous building. People: The amenity of many residences close to the site would be affected by additional noise, light and car fume pollution (the store is expected to be open 24 hours, and there is a lot of glass). The visual amenity of residences further away, who look down on the store, would also be affected.. Trees: The bank of mature trees along Woodburn Way would be replaced by the back of the store. The trees in the carpark would also be lost. See the northwest elevation » . The Allander Water: which runs through the site is a MAJOR wildlife corridor, important for the movement of wildlife over distances. The light pollution from the huge glass-fronted store would be highly disruptive to migrating salmon and sea trout, and also to other wildlife such as dippers. See layout » The Allander Walkway: This runs beside the river through the site, and is part of an important long distance walkway which connects the Kelvin Walkway (and Glasgow) to the West Highland Way. Its amenity would be reduced by locating the service area next to the fish ladder, and by transforming the ground level of the store into a jungle of concrete pillars. See the fishladder » Lennox Park: The proposed multi-storey car park would detract from the visual amenity of Lennox Park. It would also increase light and car fume pollution. Demolition and Rebuild: the major disruption and pollution during the actual demolition and building work is counter to the government's (and Tesco's) stated aims in becoming more Green. However, customers may be assured that Tesco intend to operate a temporary store arrangement to ensure continuity of provision.

You can see details of the application » on East Dunbartonshire Council's website