Councillors have voted in favour of a development in Bearsden which will see a business centre replaced by housing, offices and a nursery.

East Dunbartonshire Councils’s planning board was divided on whether to approve an application to redevelop 48-50 Drymen Road by demolishing the business centre and converting the adjacent villa into a day nursery.

Number 48 is a 19th-century sandstone building most recently used as a temporary housing unit, while 50 is a more recent building containing two offices and a nursery.

The application, from Showproof Limited, proposed construction of a four-storey building containing two offices, two three-bedroom duplexes, two three-bedroomed flats and six two-bedroomed flats, as well as the changes to the villa.

The application was approved by six votes to four, although the committee also added conditions requiring car parking  – in the form of a covered area with 34 spaces – be completed before the development come into use on top of those already recommended by planning officers.

A detailed timetable of construction also be submitted should be imposed on top of the various conditions already proposed by planning officers and a legal agreement with the council will have to be completed before the development can be constructed.

The council received 20 letters of representation about these plans, although only from 13 addresses. This correspondence was counted as nine objections and four general comments.

However, planning officers felt that the proposals would not adversely affect property, neighbours or the street scene or contradict local planning policies, and therefore recommended granting permission subject to several conditions intended to ensure development was carried out appropriately.