PLANS have been lodged to turn a former dairy site in Renfrew into a car sale yard.

Hope Dairy in Paisley Road, which used to be run by the Lamont family, has suffered a decline in recent years and planning permission was granted to demolish the dairy buildings in 2018, after Mrs Lamont decided she could no longer manage things following her husband’s death.

In recent years, the firm – which was based at number 11 – has mainly supplied milk to restaurants and shops as doorstep deliveries have declined in popularity.

Now an application has been submitted by Mrs Lamont to turn the site into a storage yard for selling cars.

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Agents Glasgow Architectural Design said in the application: “The history of the dairy dates back to when the cows were driven from the fields to be milked in the byres which still exist in the old dairy buildings.

“The business has declined due to the modern way of supermarket shopping and supplies mainly restaurants and shops. Following the death of the owner, Mr Lamont, the business was taken over by his wife, who has reached retirement age. She feels with the decline in business and long unsociable hours she can no longer run the business successfully.

“My client has decided to apply for a change of use to an open yard with a serviced Portakabin. The existing buildings have been removed due to their dilapidated condition and the existing concrete yard dug up. The new plan is for an open yard accessed through double gates from Paisley Road via a mono-blocked drive way. The proposed use of the yard would be the storage of motor cars for sale.”

The design and access statement states no part of the proposed yard will be visible from the main road. Cars will be able to access the site in the same way as they did for the dairy via the gated lane adjacent to the property.

The statement also says limited customer traffic is expected, with traffic mainly coming from people viewing and collecting cars between 8.30am and 5.30pm.

It is also suggested the yard will incorporate a small parking area.

The proposed pedestrian access to the yard is also via the gated lane adjacent to the property, segregated by a fence.

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