Councillors to make fact-finding Montrose port visit to see historic buildings at centre of appeal bids

Port business J R Rix is fighting two planning refusals issued by Angus Council for old and decaying harbourside buildings.

By Graham Brown

March 6 2024, 6:00am

Former Montrose fish factory sheds form part of the planning appeal. Image: Google

Planning councillors will make a fact-finding Montrose port visit before taking a decision on the demolition of historic quayside sheds.

It follows a double knockback to port firm J R Rix for the redevelopment of buildings it owns there.

Appeal committee members want to see for themselves the state of the sheds Rix say will be too costly to save.

The fuel and shipping firm has challenged two decisions taken by planning officials under delegated powers.

Those relate to:

Demolition of a 120-year-old building at 4 Meridian Street and replacement with a larger warehouse
Redevelopment of 1-5 America Street to create a store/offices and two-storey car parking structure

The Meridian Street proposal was refused in June 2023.

Rix said the state of the building is so poor around 70% of it would have to be rebuilt ‘brick-by-brick’.

The Meridian Street warehouse sits on the edge of Montrose port. — The Meridian Street warehouse sits on the edge of the port. Image: Google Maps.

Montrose Port submitted a letter of support for the plan.

But Historic Environment Scotland objected, blaming a lack of maintenance for the deterioration of the C-listed building.

Salmon curing factory

The America Street scheme was also refused last year.

It centres around the planned redevelopment of the former Joseph Johnston fish curing factory.

The buildings are also C-listed and date back as far as the 1800s.

Salmon firm Joseph Johnston once occupied the America Street buildings. Image: Google

And while some of the facades would be kept, Rix said the cost of reinstatement would render the £1.5m project unviable.

Each of the appeals was considered by development management review committee councillors this week.

And following presentations covering the respective Rix projects, the four-strong committee unanimously agreed they needed to see the harbourside sites for themselves.

Monifieth and Sidlaws councillor Heather Doran said she hopes that will address issues raised in the case documents.

“Given the circumstances and some of the disagreements in the information we’ve received it’s only right we go to look at this,” she said.

“It’s not easy to assess by photographs.”

Planning officials will accompany councillors on the site visit and the applications will come back before the committee in due course.