Plans approved to let Crieff visitors pay to sleep in a cell at a former police station

Plans allowing people visiting Crieff to pay to sleep in a cell at the former police station have been approved.

The historic King Street building is to house six holiday self-catering accommodation units as part of a bid to revive the empty station.

Developers are to use the former cell area to house a six-bedroom hostel, with the original cell doors kept in place.

But visitors to the hostel would sleep comfortably compared to former guests, with queen size beds planned for each cell.

Police Scotland vacated the property last September, with officers taking up residence at shared facilities with Perth and Kinross Council on the town’s James Square.

The site is to be developed by Braemore Estates, a local commercial and residential property fund.

Listed building

Dated 1900, the property has a number of historical features and is designated as a  Category B-listed building by Historic Environment Scotland.

Of special interest is a carved stone from a former smithy on the site which features a thistle flanked by the date 1736.

The approved plans say the developer will transform the police station into six self-catering apartments and a separate six-bedroom hostel.

A design statement submitted with the application says this will require “robust” internal alterations.

The intention is to retain the character of the cells as much as possible, with the original cell doors maintained.

The developer says this will be used as a marketing feature of the hostel.

The application said: “The design for the hostel accommodation consists of six queen size beds installed within the former police lock-up cells together with communal kitchen, sitting and dining facilities and male, female and accessible shower (and) toilet facilities.

“The idea here will be to retain the character of the cells as far as possible and this will be a marketing feature of the hostel.”

The design statement adds: “There will be no alterations to the exterior south east elevation or any other areas of the older sections of the building and all existing external doors and windows are to be retained to the older building.”