Council chiefs are fighting attempts to rescue a massive Perth housing plan.
The long-awaited Almond Valley village scheme, which has been in the pipeline for more than 20 years, was kicked out by councillors after widespread criticism by residents.
The Pilkington Trust, which is behind the 1,300 home expansion, is urging the Scottish Government to overturn the decision. The organisation is also demanding that Perth and Kinross Council pay its expenses.
Developers argued that the development management committee had acted unreasonably because it delayed the project and went against advice from the council’s own legal team.
Now the local authority is trying to block the appeal, arguing that the site – on the western edge of Perth – is a flood risk.
Agents acting for the council are also standing by the committee’s ruling that the project would be detrimental to neighbours, despite warnings that their arguments were not competent and would probably fail on appeal.
A spokesman said: “Irrespective of what may have been said, the committee can go against the recommendations of officers.”
He said there were “legitimate” concerns about the proposal. “The appeal site is on a functional flood plain,” he said. “Further scrutiny of the assessment of the flooding issue has legitimately led to the development management committee adopting the precautionary principle on what is a site prone to flooding.”
Meanwhile, objectors are also preparing to help fight the appeal. Dozens have written to the government’s directorate for planning and environmental appeals calling for the scheme to be scrapped.
Solicitors acting for Methven Community Council claimed there was no longer a need for the project. “We contend that there has been a number of significant material changes in circumstances since the allocation of the Almond Valley Village, which now bring into question the justification for its allocation.
“At the time of an examination in 2012-2013, there were few significant residential development proposals in Perth, with a requirement for large land releases to meet an identified housing land requirement.
“Since then however, a number of large scale residential proposals have been brought forward and Perth and Kinross Council now have an extremely healthy housing land supply positive over at least the next 12 years.”
Almond and Earn councillor Alan Livingstone, who voted against the plan at May’s meeting, is also objecting to the appeal.
“The application contravenes democracy,” he said. “There have been 20 years of well-nigh unanimous objection to proposed developments here. Over this period, the various expressions of Perth and Kinross Council, local councillors, the community council and most importantly the existing community, have all voiced hostility and opposition to it.
“I believe democracy is under severe threat here.”
In paperwork submitted to Scottish Ministers, a spokesman for Edinburgh-based Pilkington said: “The development has clear and straightforward policy support and the reasons for refusal do not bear scrutiny.
“Further, the express and clear advice of the committee’s own advisers, both planning and legal, was that there was no basis to support the reasons that were proposed.”
He added: “It is unreasonable to impose the delay and cost that this appeal entails with no good reasons to refuse planning and many good reasons to grant.”
