New homes for social rent can be built in Newton Mearns by East Renfrewshire Council despite 37 objections.

Councillors have approved plans for a block of flats and a single-storey wheelchair-accessible home on Barrhead Road.

East Renfrewshire declared a housing emergency in September due to growing homelessness, with 350 households waiting for an offer of accommodation at that time.

Cllr Annette Ireland said: “I’m really pleased to see this before us because I know there’s such demand for socially-rented accommodation in East Renfrewshire just now.”

Objectors included Crookfur, Greenfarm and Mearns Village Community Council, which raised concerns over the height of the development, the impact on the character of the area and road safety.

(Image: Google) Opponents of the scheme also claimed there would be overlooking, over-development, loss of daylight and trees and a lack of amenity space. 

Council planners had recommended it could be approved and said the land had been identified “specifically for the erection of affordable housing”.

In total, there will be 17 homes created under the plan, with a flatted block up to four storeys in height and a detached two-bedroom, wheelchair-accessible property.

The project will see 13 trees removed to make way for the homes, but planners said re-planting is proposed, with “11 field maple and six whitebeam; six ornamental trees; seven smaller multi-stem trees; shrubs; and hedging”.

In a report to councillors, they added the four-storey part of the building will be “at a point furthest from the adjacent residences to the rear”

It stated: “The visual impact of the flatted block when viewed from Barrhead Road and from the residential areas to the rear, notwithstanding its storey height, would not give rise to a significant detriment to visual amenity and is considered, on balance, to be acceptable.”

A two-metre boundary fence, separating the development from properties on Moorhill Crescent, is required to “safeguard the privacy of the occupants” of nearby homes.

The council’s roads department advised it had no objection to the proposal if conditions to ensure visibility at the access to the site — at its junction with Barrhead Road — and prevent flooding were attached to the planning permission.