RENFREWSHIRE Council has come under pressure after it refused to punish property developers who breached the terms of planning permission.

Despite being refused permission to sell houses at the development on the site of the old Merchiston Hospital in Brookfield until improvement works are finished on on the Barochan Interchange, a number of houses have already been sold by Barratt Homes.

And although they have admitted they are aware of the breach in the planning permission, Renfrewshire Council has decided that no action will be taken against the property tycoons.

However, this lack of action has been widely criticised with fears that it could lead to a dangerous precedent of developers exploiting the planning system.

John McEvoy, chairman of Houston Community Council, said: "They are ignoring the wishes and the lives of the people of Houston.

"If property developers see that Barratt Homes are able to get away with this, this could encourage others to do the same.

"We need to take a stance here and this is not just a frivolous complaint, but it is about a more general issue that we need to fight.

"Housing developers can't just ignore the terms of their planning agreement and we can't let them - this just sets a precedent for ignoring it."

The development has been an ongoing issue for months, with the improvements to the area leading to travel chaos and misery for residents.

Jim Sheridan, councillor for Houston, Crosslee and Linwood, said: "This has caused a lot of trouble for people in the community and businesses.

"The planning has allowed people to move into properties despite this breaking the planning permission.

"These are the main complaints of the community council and I completely understand where they are coming from.

"I think we shouldn't be allowing a developer who has disregarded the local community to do so.

"But, the people of Houston have been treated abysmally and that is the problem."

Renfrewshire Council insisted that this would not set a precedent and that they would continue to exam examples on a case by case basis.

A Renfrewshire Council spokesperson added: “We are aware that a small number of homes have been occupied in advance of the completion of works to upgrade the Barrochan Interchange, as is required as a condition of planning permissions.

“We have assessed the situation and decided that there will be limited impact to the local road network but we have written to Barratt Homes and are awaiting their response

“The works at Barrochan Interchange are progressing as scheduled. We are continuing to monitor progress and anticipate no delays to completion.

“The traffic management measures in place are ensuring that the impact on the surrounding road network is minimised. There have been no complaints about delays during this phase of works, which will aid the traffic flow on Barrochan Road.”

David Scott, Managing Director of Barratt Homes & David Wilson Homes West Scotland said: “We did submit a planning application to vary the condition that restricts occupations prior to the completion of the Barrochan Interchange. We are pleased to report that works will complete imminently.”