A plan to demolish a group of farm buildings in the Carse of Gowrie to make way for five houses has met fierce opposition.
Perth and Kinross Council has received 21 letters of objection to the proposal at Myreside Farm, Errol, which raise a number of issues.
Objections include that it would be contrary to the development plan and the housing in the countryside policy and that total clearance of the site is unjustified.
Other concerns are road safety issues, the density of the housing, noise pollution, that the plan would be out of character and would have a negative bearing on a listed building and even that it would have an impact on bats.
The application will be heard before the council’s development management committee on Wednesday.
The site lies 3.5km north west of the village of Errol and comprises three adjoining existing farm buildings on the footprint of a traditional steading layout.
”There appears to be no current farming activity associated with the farm buildings,” states a report by Nick Brian, the council’s development quality manager.
”The farmhouse and farm buildings are known to have been sold separately from the surrounding agricultural land several years ago. Immediately adjacent to the application site sits the original Myreside farmhouse, an attractive and modest category C-listed building.
”Although not physically attached to the development, the setting of the listed farmhouse would be affected by any redevelopment proposals. A small paddock sits immediately to the north west of the farmhouse, now forming part of the planning submission for a residential plot for a cottage development.
”Historically, two previous unsuccessful planning submissions and a planning application that was latterly withdrawn in 2011 have been submitted on this site.
”The current application seeks detailed planning permission for the development of four terraced dwellings approximately within the original footprint of the steading group and a separate cottage-style dwelling is proposed to the north west of the farmhouse in the paddock area, effectively closing off the overall building group.”
Mr Brian notes there is a commitment from the applicant that the stonework of the original steading will be reused on the principal elevations of any successful development.
Mr Brian recommends approval of the applications, stating: ”There have been strong levels of representation submitted to this application, consistent with earlier planning applications on this site.
”The current proposals have been considerably reduced in scale, however, and designed with a lighter touch and sensitivity compared with previous applications.
”The site is very open, situated on a wide valley floor; however, the calculated impact on the landscape is not considered to be any worse than the sheds which exist on the site at the moment.
”The redevelopment proposals are not dissimilar to other small-scale rural housing projects in the Perth and Kinross area.”