An appeal over rejected plans to convert two Glasgow townhouses into eight serviced apartments has been thrown out.
Previous bids to change the use of the four flats at 75 Berkeley Street had been rejected last year. Planning officials said the site lies within the Park Conservation Area and therefore the short-stay serviced apartments use would contradict council policy. It said Glasgow’s tourism and visitor plan’s ambition is to “grow the economy by increasing overnight leisure tourism visits” and “further supply in quality tourism accommodation is essential”.
Cllr Paul Leinster, SNP, said: “We want to encourage as much tourism as possible, we want tourists to have options for where they stay. But that shouldn’t come at the expense of the residential accommodation we already have in the city. Cllr Kenny McLean, SNP, added: “To take mainstream housing units out of the stock of housing and give it to short-term accommodation would be totally going against the grain of what we are trying to do as a city.”