A NEW community group in Helensburgh has held talks this week with developers and officials over two major building projects in the town.

Members of Architecture and Design Helensburgh (ADH) met Argyll and Bute Council’s project manager for the £17 million waterfront redevelopment scheme on November 24.

And on the same day, ADH members met representatives of Persimmon Homes West Scotland to discuss the company’s plans to build up to 76 new houses on a site at Glenoran Road in the west end of the town.

Nigel Millar, a founder member of ADH, an advisory body set up under the auspices of Helensburgh Community Council, was one of the ADH representatives who spoke to Andrew Collins, who has been appointed by Argyll and Bute Council as the project manager for the pierhead redevelopment.

Mr Millar, who is also a member of the community council, said: “We were quite encouraged by what we heard.

“ADH is pressing for two things. The first is good design – the Helensburgh pier head is a very prominent site, and on the basis that good design is good for business, we are looking for a distinctive design that will attract large numbers of people to come and use the new leisure centre,.

“The second is user involvement. To help secure good design we feel the potential users of the centre need to be involved from the start, with input into the discussions on design, internal layout and operational aspects.

“We would like to see something along the lines of Hermitage Park, where a user group was established from the early days to sit down with the council and make sure whatever comes out at the end is what people want.”

The council’s proposals for a new-look Helensburgh waterfront were approved by members of the Helensburgh and Lomond area committee in June.

The new leisure centre will include a new six-lane swimming pool, wider than the present facility, as well as a larger gym and health suite, a new children’s play area and an enhanced spectator area.

The original plans for the centre also included a cafe, but this will not now be provided, so as not to threaten the viability of nearby private businesses.

The wider development also includes improved flood defences and additional public realm work to complement the measures featured in the CHORD town centre regeneration.

The meeting with Mr Collins followed talks held earlier that day between ADH, representatives of Architecture and Design Scotland, and Persimmon Homes West Scotland, over the house builder’s Glenoran Road plans.

ADH has already persuaded the company to reduce the number of homes in the Glenoran Road project amid concerns over density and design – although the local group is still pressing for the company to reduce that number further, to a maximum of 50, in line with Argyll and Bute Council’s planning guidelines.

Mr Millar said: “The three architects from ADH who met Persimmon’s representatives were quite encouraged.

“They found that Persimmon reacted positively to the points that they made, and are hopeful that the company took those points away and will come back with a revised proposal for the site.”

Persimmon’s plans for the former Dobbies site near Rhu, originally featuring 85 homes, were unveiled in March at a public consultation event – and immediately attracted concern from the community council that the site could be “overcrowded”.