Plans to create dozens of new homes in Maryhill have been branded as “generic and lacking imagination”.

Maryhill Housing Association (MHA) have submitted a planning application for 65 flats on Maryhill Road, Whitelaw Street and Cowal Road.

But the area’s community council have compared the design of the three housing blocks to those of a multi-storey car park.

Concerns have also been raised about a lack of parking at the site, with just 54 spaces being made available.

In a letter to MHA and Elder and Cannon Architects, members of the Maryhill and Summerston Community Council said: “When this project was first mentioned to the Community Council, we were told that an iconic building would be going up on the site, somewhat in line with the turreted building which had been there previously.

“We were very surprised and disappointed with what was actually presented to us as the proposal for the site. Far from being iconic, the blocks are generic and lacking in imagination, in fact the wording used to describe them was, ‘it looks like a multi-storey car park’.

“Maryhill has suffered for many years from lack of investment and it is great to see much needed housing being built, however, it is sad to see yet another building going up in Glasgow so lacking in architectural flair, particularly in such a prominent site.”

The proposal for the site includes 17 homes for the elderly and five with wheelchair access. The other homes will be available for social and mid-market rent, as well as shared equity.

All the homes will be set within three blocks ranging from five to six floors high – that proposal has been adapted from the original plans which sought to create four housing blocks.

In a letter to neighbouring households, Elder and Cannon Architects said: “The overall target of accommodation had originally been set more loosely at 62-68 flatted dwellings, with 68 being the client’s (MHA) preference. This reduced to 65 to allow some scale reduction on the block one final design and to not put any further pressure on parking ratios.

“The design of block one also evolved to combine an original proposal of two blocks into one, reducing the overall footprint further to allow more support amenity and improved aspect of views across the site.

“This shift also freed up more space to the neighbouring tenement and commercial unit on Maryhill Road so that any future development of this one-storey plot could be facilitated to a more standard tenement core arrangement.

“The intention here is that future development of this site is less constrained by the current proposal.”

In response to parking concerns, the letter added: “The intention of the design team was to further explore the option of reducing the parking to a ratio closer to 50-60%, to allow for increased amenity space.

“From the first consultation to planning submission we instead increased parking by six spaces directly off Whitelaw Street from four to 10, to increase those readily available for visitor parking.

“This also increased overall parking percentages from 73% to 83%. We have also demonstrated, in the unlikely event that the amount of proposed parking provided is not sufficient, how the parking could be increased by a further 12 spaces, increasing the ratio to 101%.”