A BID to amend the design of a controversial block of student flats in the West End has been approved despite dozens of objections.

Three years ago, the city council gave permission to demolish the Pewter Pot pub in North Woodside Road and build a seven storey block with 114 bedrooms.

The move resulted in 345 objections from local people but won the backing of the city council's planning committee.

The site has since been sold to Edinburgh based Seaforth Developments who lodged a new application with a number of design amendments.

These included reducing the number of bedrooms by two, enclosing the fifth floor roof terrace with an etched glass screen and restricting access to a smaller second storey roof terrace to maintenance only.

The new application also included a number of other alterations including increasing the size of the windows and providing a gym.

A total of 45 people objected, including Friends of Glasgow West. Woodside Community Council and residents of the neighbouring conservation area also complained, claiming the building would be a featureless block and should be rejected as having no architectural merit.

But planning bosses disagreed, saying the development, which will have live-in staff, will have a positive impact on the setting of listed tenements to the south of North Woodside Road and on views into and out of the Glasgow West Conservation Area.

Objectors also complained that the proposed cladding appeared to be a cheap solution and offered "poor levels of amenity to what is already a badly-designed building."

But a report to members of the planning committee says: "The proposed material has been used successfully in other buildings and we are confident the proposed palate is robust and of good quality.

"Other material considerations, including the letters of representation have been considered but do not outweigh the acceptability of the proposal."

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