Plans to build a £10 million hotel in a Highland Perthshire tourist haven have been shelved.
The proposed Premier Inn was announced earlier this year with the promise of scores of new jobs and a £1.6 million boost to the local economy.
But the project came under fire from local businesses, residents and even tourists, who said it could hinder attempts by existing hoteliers to reopen their establishments after lockdown.
Developers have now withdrawn their planning application for the Bridge Road scheme.
Neither Premier Inn’s parent firm Whitbread nor Riverstone Developments, which was set to lease the building to the hoteliers once completed, would say why.
Before being pulled, the hotel plans attracted 69 public objections on the council’s planning website.
Among the complaints was advice from Sepa that the project should not go ahead on what it described as a “pristine functional floodplain.”
The Scottish Government watchdog previously objected to an application for a supermarket at the site with the same worries.
Pitlochry was chosen by bosses for the 105-bed hotel due to the high occupancy rates at Premier Inns in Perth and Dundee but other local hospitality businesses voiced fears about how the development could impact the A9 town.
Last month, Perth and Kinross Council published the results of an investigation into the potential to affectr the internationally recognised River Tay Special Area of Conservation, which includes the River Tummel just 60m from the site boundary.
Pitlochry Community Council chairman James Laurenson said he did not want to comment on the withdrawal since the developers had not given their reasons for pulling out.
However, he acknowledged that the entire area within the site boundary had been prone to flooding in the past.
Agents for the town’s Atholl Palace Hotel had also lodged an objection to the development.
A spokesman said: “My client believes that the best economic future for Pitlochry is not in low amenity budget hotels, but with quality volume tourism.
“Whilst my client understands the need to increase the room stock of the town, they consider the best way to achieve this would be to encourage existing hotels and bed and breakfast establishments to grow organically, rather than diluting the existing market which would endanger tourism.”
Highland Perthshire’s Conservative councillor John Duff said: “I understand that issues raised both by Sepa and the council’s structures and flooding team in relation to the plans have highlighted a conflict with development plan policy.
“As a consequence, the applicant has withdrawn the application meantime to allow it to consider the concerns raised.”
