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A BLOT on the landscape of Cowal’s shores has finally disappeared with the demolition last week of the former Finnartmore nursing home, at Kilmun near Dunoon.
Plans for the development of the site - which included knocking down the existing building - were approved last month by Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority.
Developers MacIntosh Homes Ltd, based in Skelmorlie, plan to build 14 apartments at Finnartmore, which closed as a nursing home in 1984 and was allowed to fall into dilapidated disrepair.
Finnartmore House has previously been referred to as listed, but it does not currently appear on the Historic Scotland database of listed properties.
A structural survey carried out when MacIntosh Homes submitted its planning application earlier this year effectively condemned the property - concluding that it was structurally unsound - and that any economic development of the site could only be achieved through its demolition.
This has now been carried out as the first stages of preparation for the new development take place.
This will see the construction of 14 apartments in villa-type properties - but National Park planners have imposed a number of conditions in their approval of the planning application.
The original proposal was for 16 units, but this has dropped to 14.
The park authority says that four of these must be designated affordable homes with a specific marketing strategy aimed at ensuring local residents get a fair chance to purchase.
For the first three months, the four affordable properties shall be marketed only to those living in the Kilmun, Strone and Blairmore community council areas.
After this, the properties may be marketed for a further three months to a wider community council area, to be agreed - but only after six months, if the properties remain unsold, can they be promoted on the open market.
According to the planners’ report, Argyll and Bute Council’s housing department feels that there is justification for a small development, citing the level of need for affordable housing in the area. Kilmun in particular is described as particularly pressured in terms of housing need, with 20 applications for one available rental property.
Another condition is that construction work may only be carried out between 7am and 6pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 4pm on Saturdays, with no work to be done on Sundays or public holidays.
Numerous other conditions relate to the fabric of the new units such as paint colour, roofing materials and windows.
Representations made to park planners included concerns about overlooking neighbouring properties, increased noise, potential access problems, ability of existing sewage networks to cope with the additional need, and fears of overdevelopment.
At this stage, it is not known when construction work on the new residential development will commence.
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