How Holmehill is protected
1. Section 75 agreement (formally Section 50) : In 1987 Stirling District Council and Stakis plc, the then owners of the land, signed a Section 75 agreement relating to the whole of Holmehill. Stakis signed the agreement in return for planning permission being granted for the erection of 43 dwellings at Smithy Loan and Holmehill Court. The agreement was registered and is binding on any new owner.
Click Here to download pdf of Section 75 agreement
Click Here to download pdf of Reo Stakis article
Under the agreement Stakis accepted that the land ‘shall never be used except as public pedestrian areas and public open space’. This meant that Stakis could not undertake or allow ‘to be erected any additional or new buildings’. One concession in the agreement was the possibility of an office development on the site of the former Holmehill House. We have been advised by Stirling Council that this would now be contrary to the Local Plan. The agreement did also say (reiterated in the Local Plan) that the Council would be liable to keep and maintain public pedestrian access but this has not happened.
2. Stirling Local Plan 1999 : The Stirling Local Plan states that the Council will ‘encourage and promote the implementation of community woodland schemes in key locations for the benefit of local residents’ and ‘support proposals for the enhancement of open space areas, public and private, which contribute to the establishment of a green corridor network in the interests of amenity, outdoor recreation, landscape and nature conservation’.
The Local Plan specifically mentions Holmehill:
‘In visual terms, Holmehill is an important ‘green’ landmark in the centre of Dunblane. It is privately owned but the public has right of access with maintenance the responsibility of the council. The trees are particularly important and this area will be largely protected from further development.
Holmehill benefits from a local plan policy (Pol.Dunb.E1) which ‘recognises the need to preserve and enhance the environmental quality’ of Dunblane by seeking to protect the skyline, to encourage the development of community woodlands and to establish a green corridor. Pol.Dunb.E4 proposed tree preservation orders at 4 areas in the town including Holmehill but these have not been progressed.
click here for link to Stirling Local Plan
3. Dunblane Conservation Area 1968 : Being within a conservation area, the trees on Holmehill are protected as fully as if they were covered by tree preservation orders. This means that they ‘cannot be lopped, topped or felled without prior notification to the planning authority’.
click here for link to character appraisal for conservation areas
4. Dunblane Community Action Plan 2003: The Dunblane Community Action Plan was developed by Dunblane Development Trust following extensive public consultation and with the assistance of Stirling Council’s Community Futures Programme. The plan’s Local Environment Priority 4 is ‘Improving public access to Holmehill’.
click here for link to Dunblane Community Action Plan
5. Core Paths : In the Summer of 2006, Stirling Council issued their draft Core Paths plan, which designates the main route across Holmehill as a core path. This highlights the importance of the site for public access. As part of our management plan for the land, we propose to develop and enhance the existing network of paths that extend off this main route.
click here for link to Core Paths info
