Village residents object to Ayrshire shop extension plans

Residents have submitted objections to extension plans for a village shop.

Kilmaurs locals have railed against blueprints aiming to extend the area's Premier Store.

Bosses at the Main Street shop want to erect a single-storey extension at the popular village outlet.

The 190 sq m annexe would take over the adjacent car park with shop chiefs proposing to create four on-street car parking spaces on Main Street. This plan would see the current site lose two spaces if the application is approved.

But objectors have taken exception to plans lodged with East Ayrshire Council.

Dr Roan Rutherford said that the extension "is not in keeping with the character of the conservation area which it is within."

The Dr also raised safety concerns with the application: "The existing car park is over a right of way over a former historic road and is used by pedestrians walking from Fenwick Road and crossing over Main Street.

"The narrow space left to the side of the extension would not be a safe route for pedestrians especially at night."

While neighbour Mrs Catherine Johnson added: "Looking at the plans, I cannot see how this plan can go ahead as it looks to me that the access to the car park attached to the existing premises is no longer going to be there.

"If this is correct than surely we have been down this road before and as there have been no changes to the surrounding properties this does not seem right.

"There is also the problem of the traffic at such a busy junction."

An archaeologist has also raised issues with the plans, highlighting that the blueprints sit within the "defined archaeologically sensitive area of the historic settlement of Kilmaurs."

Paul Robins from West of Scotland Archaeology Service said that groundworks could damage or destroy unrecorded remains of archaeological of significance.

Mr Robins concluded that the area should be subject to archaeological evaluation before any construction goes ahead, if planning is approved.

East Ayrshire Council planners will rule on the application at a future date.

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