PLANS to turn a Victorian school building once attended by John Logie Baird into a block of flats were put on hold yesterday after planning permission was refused for a second time, writes Valerie Hannah.
Argyll and Bute Council rejected a resubmitted application by Cala Homes (Scotland) to convert a site at Larchfield Academy in Helensburgh into 25 flats because the development was deemed ''a major departure from policy''.
Objectors, who have battled for almost two years to save the site, gave a cautious welcome to the news amid fears that the building will fall into a state of disrepair the longer it remains empty.
Ms Leigh Johnston of the Scottish Civic Trust said the organisation was concerned about some of the features, but also said: ''We are surprised that the application has been refused as it means the building is still in a state of uncertainty.''
Cala Homes had planned to turn the school building into 11 flats, constructing a further 14 flats in a duplicate building, after its original plans to demolish the school and build five homes was rejected last November.
As well as the inventor of television being a former pupil, Larchfield Academy's former masters include the poets Cecil Day-Lewis and WH Auden.
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