A historic Monifieth church is to come back into use after a planning green light for ambitious proposals to convert it into a community cafe.
B-listed St Rules closed years ago under a town merger which eventually led to the creation of the new parish church building on Monifieth High Street.
Planning councillors have now backed Gillian Noble’s scheme to turn the 210-year-old Gothic building into a facility which will host music and other community events.
The go-ahead was granted in the face of a string of objections, the majority centred around a lack of local parking.
But there were more than 40 letters of support for the idea.
The conversion plan will create a kitchen, community meeting spaces and storage.
Important architectural features of the listed building will be retained.
Monifieth Community Council did not object to the application, but echoed the traffic concerns.
There is no parking in the old churchyard.
Residents’ resistance
Local resident Stewart Ellis told Angus development standards councillors the parking situation had become “really serious” in the past decade.
“There is no parking here whatsoever – Church Street is very, very tight.
“There’s no room to allow emergency vehicles to come up and there’s cars parked on double yellow lines most of the time.”
Planning officials recommended the application for conditional approval.
The applicant’s agent Karen Clark said on-street parking is available and was used when the building was a church.
“Historic Environment Scotland has confirmed they greatly welcome the re-use of this historic church which will secure its long-term future.”
Committee support
Arbroath councillor Brenda Durno praised Ms Noble for the ambitious project.
“I’d like to thank the applicant for being brave in this financial crisis we’ve got at the moment.
“We’ve a lot of old churches being abandoned and I would commend her for taking this application forward.”
Local councillor Lloyd Melville said: “I recognise the concerns around parking in particular.
“It’s patently obvious to anyone who knows the building that there was parking around there when it was a church and I am fairly confident the parking issues can be managed.”
Committee convener David Cheape added: “This was a busy church when it was operating and there were always car issues. I can’t see any more impact than there was at that time.”
The application was unanimously approved by the committee.
Conversation