A second housebuilder is hoping to pick up where the collapsed Stewart Milne Group left off on the edge of Perth.
Barratt is seeking planning permission for 340 homes, with shops and a sports pavilion near Huntingtower.
The project is part of the much-bigger Almond Valley project, which could eventually provide 1,500 homes to the west of Perth.
Stewart Milne Group won planning permission for the site in 2021.
But the Aberdeen-based housebuilder went into administration in January this year, leaving unfinished developments and hundreds out of work.
Barratt is now looking to take on the Almond Valley housing.
The previous planning permission remains in place.
But Barratt is looking to make a number of changes.
And Perth and Kinross Council planners are recommending councillors approve an application from the company.
A report to next Wednesday’s planning and placemaking committee says: “The developer for the previously approved permission was Stewart Milne Group.
“Barratt has since sought to acquire the site, thereby requiring some amendments
to the previous approval to reflect the different house types now proposed, alongside some other relatively minor changes to the layout.”
Perth and Kinross Council rejected Almond Valley plans three times
The 340 homes in the Barratt proposal will range from one-bedroom cottage flats to four-bedroom houses.
Most, 255, will be for sale and 85 will be affordable homes.
The application also includes 28 garages, three retail units, sports pitches and a changing pavilion next to the River Almond.
And it sets out plans for new roads and pedestrian routes, including a connection to the recently constructed A9/A85 link road.
There are 25 objections to the application, including from Methven and District Community Council.
Critics raise concerns about traffic and road safety, as well as flood risk and the impact on wildlife and biodiversity.
But planners say the scheme should go ahead.
Their report to the committee says the Barratt scheme is “substantially similar” to the Stewart Milne design.
The Almond Valley masterplan was finally submitted to Perth and Kinross Council in 2019 after a 20-year planning battle.
The process included a public inquiry, and three separate rejections by the council in 2004, 2011 and 2016.
In October, The Courier revealed Fife housebuilder Muir Homes had struck a deal with administrators to complete the partially finished Stewart Milne development at Hunter’s Meadow in Auchterarder.
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