PLANS to demolish an empty office building in Glasgow’s West End and replace it with a six-storey apartment block have been rejected.

City planners refused permission to flatten the building, between Fergus Drive and Wilton Street, near Queen Margaret Drive.

Nearly 300 letters of objection and 272-signature petition were submitted opposing the plans for six two-bedroom flats and 13 three-bedroom flats.

Opponents said development was too high, not in keeping with the Conservation Area and would increase pressure on existing parking and traffic congestion.

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Some also argued the existing building is of architectural merit and should be retained – a view the developers disagreed with.

In their response, they described the building as “of very poor appearance, being a simple two-storey rectangle with hole-in-the-wall UPVC windows and a flat roof.

“The existing building is not listed, and is not an unlisted building of architectural merit in the Glasgow West Conservation Area Appraisal. The building is partially hidden by landscaping and it is unlikely that many people will know of its existence and it therefore does not feature strongly in the current appreciation of the Conservation Area.”

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Planning bosses who concluded that due to its “footprint, height, scale, massing and density”, the building would be “overdevelopment” of the site and so would “not respect its historic context but would detract from the special character of the Glasgow West Conservation Area”.

They said it had not been demonstrated that the building is “incapable of viable repair and reuse”.

There would be loss of broadleaf trees which “contribute positively to the landscape character and visual amenity of the Conservation Area”.

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Other reasons included lack of amenity space for residents; loss of privacy for a neighbouring house; and cycle storage not being well-designed.