MORE than 1,000 luxury homes are set to be built in the south side of booming Barrhead. 

Plans for the multi-million pound housing development have been made public for the first time as part of a consultation process with local residents.

Around 1,050 family homes are earmarked for the Auchenback area of the town over the next 10 to 15 years.

Edinburgh-based civil engineering firm Ironside Farrar have been taken on as consultants for the massive development, which would be situated off Springfield Road and Aurs Road.

Detail proposals have been published on their website for a series of detached and semi-detached houses, as well as flats.

An application for planning permission is expected to go before East Renfrewshire Council later this year.

Local residents have been invited to give their views online, by email and in writing as part of the virtual consultation.

Covid-19 restrictions have meant an open-to-view public presentation in the town couldn’t be held, as is normal practice.

Rosemarie McInally, chair of Barrhead Community Council, described the plans as “very positive.”

She told the Barrhead News: “As far as we are concerned, the more houses, the better, so we would welcome this development.”

Plans for the new housing include cycle paths, footpaths and green spaces.

Each property would have a front garden and communal parking spaces.

Included is affordable social housing, which would be rented out cheaply to local families.

Ironside Farrar say there will also be improvements in the local roads network and better access to the Dams to Darnley Country Park.

The land for the 1,050 homes has been allocated for housing under the East Renfrewshire Local Development Plan.

A decision on planning permission is expected in May next year.

Council chiefs have said a number of local environmental concerns will have to be addressed before building work can go ahead, including potential flooding from the Balgray Reservoir.

Councillor Danny Devlin, who represents Barrhead, Liboside and Uplawmoor as an Independent, said: “This is going to be a tremendous development for Barrhead.

“At the end of the day, there will not only be houses for sale but socially-rented accommodation as well.

“This is also great news for people in the town who are looking for their own homes but cannot find anywhere that is affordable.”

Both Miller Homes and Avanti Homes already have major housebuilding developments ongoing in Aurs Road.

According to East Renfrewshire Council, Miller Homes has recently completed 104 new homes, while Avanti has finished 26 properties and is about to start on another 105.

Last week, the Barrhead News revealed plans by the council to sell a 56-acre site near Springfield Road as part of the 1,050-home development.

Around 400 new houses will be built on this particular site.

The council intends to use money from the sale to build homes elsewhere which can be rented out to families as social housing.