ZM Architecture and developer New City Vision, which owns the site, unveiled plans in March last year to bring the site back into use after 40 years of dereliction with the creation of 750 homes in a series of buildings ranging from four to 15 storeys in height.

Following a public consultation, plans for the area were updated in November to include up to 800 homes, a 195-bedroom hotel, shops, restaurant and office space.

Glasgow City Council officials have described the proposals as “surprisingly poor” given the scale of development proposed and rejected the application due to its failure to preserve the site’s “special architectural and historic interest” and flooding concerns.

Their report states: “Whilst the standard of submission is surprisingly poor given the scale of development proposed and significance of the Govan Graving Docks, the submitted information provides enough evidence to determine that the proposal is not acceptable.

“As submitted, the scale of buildings proposed, their locations and consequential impacts upon the category A-listed Graving Docks and the significant potential to increase flood risk are such that the proposal could not be supported.

“The lack of quality analysis of the environmental impacts…would normally have resulted in the planning authority seeking to have the environmental statement amended however the response from the applicant with regards to the flooding and historic environment issues which we did raise with them was not productive. This, coupled with the wider unsuitability of the development principle in terms of national and local legislation and guidance, has led us to move directly to the refusal of the application.”

The report adds: “The difficulty with this application site is that the eastern part of it is comprised almost entirely of a category A-listed structure on which more than 500 flats are proposed across nine tall buildings up to 15 storeys in height.”

The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) lodged an objection to the plans in February warning that the new properties would be at risk of flooding if the project went ahead.