Angus planning officials have cleared the way for the demolition of Brechin Infirmary.
It brings to an end hopes of the site being saved for community use.
And the curtain has gone down on 150 years of health services being delivered from the site.
We can also reveal the draft design that shows how the land could accommodate more than 40 new houses.
It shows an access taken from Infirmary Street to create a spine road running through three areas of residential development.
The plan for permission in principle says the site could accommodate 44 homes.
Delegated decision
Approval for the demolition was granted under delegated powers by Angus planning officers.
Agents Graham and Sibbald said: “The proposal is to establish the principle of residential development on a brownfield site within the Brechin development boundary.”
The infirmary originally opened in 1869.
Wards and wings were added in later years.
During its time, the building included a poorhouse, infectious diseases unit, staff accommodation and outpatients department.
It was latterly used to provide medicine for the elderly and palliative care services.
But changes to Angus health provision saw the infirmary closed in 2015.
NHS Tayside declared it surplus to requirements three years’ later.
The site covers one-and-a-half hectares.
The infirmary is not listed and lies outside Brechin’s conservation area.
Failed health hub bid
In 2021, NHS Tayside rejected Brechin Healthcare Group’s community asset transfer (CAT) application for the site.
The local campaigners wanted to use the old buildings to create a health hub for the town and surrounding area.
An appeal against the CAT refusal was subsequently rejected by Scottish Ministers.
NHS Tayside lodged the demolition application last July.
It recently submitted extra information to back the demolition proposal.
It said the adjacent Brechin Health Centre has room for thousands more patients so the infirmary site will not be needed for future health use.
What now?
Detailed housing plans would have to be the subject of a separate application.
And planners have attached a condition that any development proposals must come forward within five years.
NHS Tayside is yet to say whether it will carry out the demolition or market the site with planning permission in principle attached.
St Drostan’s still for sale
Meanwhile, the former St Drostan’s care home next door to the old infirmary is still on the market.
It is more than a decade since Angus Council announced its closure.
The authority blamed the decision to axe the home on the cost of bringing the Victorian building up to modern standards.
St Drostan’s sits on a site of just over an acre and has 11,600 sq. ft. of accommodation over two floors.
But it is one of several council properties which have failed to find a buyer since going to market.
