New Yoker homes to replace demolished high flats next to train station

Council bosses want to put the mix of cottage flats, bungalows and blocks of four and six-storey flats on the site that was cleared after years of lying mostly empty.

There would be four two-bedroom cottage flats, four one-bed cottage flats. three two-bed bungalows, 15 three-bed houses, 12 four-bed homes, eight five-bed houses, 18 one-bed flats and 24 two-bed flats in four or six-storey blocks of flats. Vehicle access would be off Mill Road.

But the properties will be wedged into one of the busiest corners of the community in between the rail line at Yoker station, the busy Glasgow Road and with Glasgow Airport traffic almost directly overhead.

A noise impact assessment by an Edinburgh firm was made of the site, which will also face the Dock Street end of the new bridge over the River Clyde.

The former flats were wedged between Glasgow Road and Yoker rail station

There is no mention of the bridge in the noise report, or of Dock Street, which has very little traffic currently.

Noise levels will be one of the most closely scrutinised elements of the plans given a joint effort by West Dunbartonshire Council and the airport to trial triple glazing and added insulation to Whitecrook homes just a few hundred yards away.

Residents under the flight path have lived with unhealthily high aircraft noise levels for decades, only eased in the past year thanks to the collapse of air travel because of the pandemic.

The noise report to planners states the site sits within Glasgow Airport’s 51-54dB noise contour map. The map has been disputed for many years by campaigners but remains the current basis for a push for triple glazed windows and improved insulation against aircraft noise nearby in Whitecrook.

It acknowledges the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended maximum noise levels and should not exceed 45dB “more than 10-15 times per night”. Night flights over Whitecrook have been a persistent complaint by activists.

External noise is recommended to be no more than 50dB, meaning the site is already above this.

The proposals for the Yoker site include a variety of home shapes and sizes

Living room windows, said the report, would need to block 30dB of noise from Glasgow Road or the rail line. Bedrooms would need to block 40dB.

Rail noise levels were found to be an average of 60dB during the day, and 55dB at night. There were no aircraft noise levels supposedly taken.

The plans will be considered by officers and councillors.