February 21 2023

A bid to expand the Fife village of Milton of Balgonie has been mounted by Ediston and EMA Architecture & Design.

59 houses and four cottage flats are proposed for arable land south of Main Street, of which 10% would be classed as affordable, on a site identified as suitable for housing in the Local Development Plan.

Incorporating open space and a play area the proposals call for a new access road to be routed off Main Street and a separate pedestrian connection with streets aligned to ensure through views of the village.

Outlining their proposals EMA wrote: "A central node is formed in the centre of the site, located along a view corridor from Main Street, through the site to the River Leven corridor to the south. This anchors the proposal in its context and maintains some of the existing character along Main Street.

"Tree planting along the primary street, and the arrangement of frontages, will create a varied and attractive streetscape. Tree planting will also be used to transition between built forms and the proposed open space to the south of the site."

To retain a sense of place a stone boundary wall and abandoned well will be retained and incorporated as character features.

4 Comments

#1 Posted by Randy Hall on 21 Feb 2023 at 10:58 AM

How on earth do EMA get away with producing the same dross time and time again? No relationship to the street and a sea of monopoly houses that appear to have been thrown in the air and landed in a haphazard fashion. Awful - is this really where housebuilding and the profession of architecture is?

#2 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 21 Feb 2023 at 11:47 AM

The street layout is horrible -- single meandering route to the main road.

Just wat did the owners/ occupiers do to deserve this torture?

They will need to buy Jeeps to cope with the traffic calming -- and why would the be rushing in the first place?

To get round the development and onto the main road -- I know electric cars are coming but how much CO2 will be wasted in the meantime?

Shocking development at every level -- looks as if it was phoned in by the work experience bloke / blokess.

Not good.

#3 Posted by WrongHills on 21 Feb 2023 at 21:09 PM

#1, #2, More importantly, those are the Ochil Hills in the background of the render (Dumyat is prominent). These hills must have moved to Fife. Someone alert the British Geological Survey.

#4 Posted by Mike on 22 Feb 2023 at 09:25 AM

Yes the render doesn't look right at all, the development site is largely flat. Those hills in that backdrop do look a lot like the Ochils. I didn't see that render on the planning portal for the application? It is a shame the local character of the village is not being acknowledged in the development proposals. Milton is characterised by bungalows, row style cottages with some ex-council 2 storeys on the peripheries of the village. On the other hand it is a shame that more housing here didn't come sooner as the Primary School is being closed due to decline in children. Might help trade at the local pub though if that survives!?

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