Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Green light for housing at former Kinross High School site

Kinross High School
Kinross High School

A contentious plan to build new housing in the grounds of a former secondary school has been approved by councillors.

Persimmon Homes won consent for 91 properties at the old Kinross High, despite objections from locals.

The Edwardian-school will be retained and transformed into four homes as part of the project, while other buildings on the seven-acre site will be demolished.

Two years ago, Persimmon was told to go back to the drawing board after it put forward plans to clear the site and create 102 homes.

The latest bid was opposed by the town’s civic trust who said the proposal was “significantly greater” than the council’s adopted development plan which had earmarked the site for just 70 houses.

The group also complained that the density of housing was “inappropriately high for the area.”

However, the plan was welcomed by members of the council’s development management committee on Wednesday.

Convener Tom Gray said: “Personally, I was very annoyed that the first plan was rejected two years ago.

“This will bring new housing to where it needs to be, right in the centre of Kinross. I am all for this proposal.”

Independent Kinross-shire councillor David Cuthbert tabled a motion to defer making a decision until a detailed parking survey could be carried out. His motion was defeated in a 10-2 vote.

Ian McGoldrick, a director at Perth-based Persimmon Homes, said the housing plan was first mooted after the council had unsuccessfully tried to market the site to a supermarket chain in 2009.

“I think by reducing the number of houses involved, it shows that we are prepared to listen to the public and the planning officers,” he said. “We have also moved homes away from the boundary and created more space for car parking.”

He added: “In our opinion, this would be very positive for the area. It will breathe new life into a redundant brownfield site which would otherwise become an increasing target for vandals.”

Mr McGoldrick also claimed that the development would pump around £642,000 into the local economy each year.

The Kinross-shire Civic Trust had concerns about the impact on the old school. In the group’s formal objection, a spokesman said: “The 1906 building designed by Andrew Muirhead will not be preserved or enhanced by what is proposed.”

Earlier this year, there were calls from some locals to use the building to house Syrian refugees.