The organisation charged with safeguarding the future of Dundee’s Howff will not object to revised plans for a restaurant overlooking the historic burial ground.
The Howff Conservation Group said they have no plans to object to new proposals submitted by West One Properties to Dundee City Council which would see 5 Bank Street transformed into a restaurant large enough to sit 60 covers.
Previous plans handed to the council included a glass whisky bar which would have protruded on to the burial ground, described at the time by one local councillor as an act of “civic vandalism”.
The glass structure has been scrapped and replaced with a large, panoramic window which would look over the former Nine Trades meeting place.
The whisky bar planned for the balcony will now be put in the basement.
The conservation group’s chairman, Simon Goulding, said: “We have looked at the proposals which have been sent in and, as chairman, I don’t anticipate that we will put in a letter of objection.”
Mr Goulding also said if the renovation works removed the old wrought-iron staircase which currently sits in the graveyard, on the side of the Bank Street buildings, it would be a positive step.
West One has said they would like its building to feel “part” of the Howff and the glow generated from the “picture-view” window would cast the burial ground in a different light.
The Howff Conservation Group recently discovered a headstone dating back to the 13th Century, when the area housed a monastery in the days before the Reformation.
The Howff was granted to the Burgh of Dundee in the 16th century by Mary, Queen of Scots, and was an active burial ground until 1860 when it was forced to close due to overcrowding.
George Duncan MP, who served the city as Member of Parliament in the 19th century, was the last person to be interred in the Howff in 1878, after the Scottish secretary of state granted special permission.
As part of Scotland’s year of history, heritage and archaeology, the graveyard was named one of the country’s “six hidden gems” following a popular vote compiled by Historic Environment Scotland.
