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£33m leisure hub near Perth with hotel and museum set for approval

The West Kinfauns site, where a hotel, museum and park and ride have been proposed.
The West Kinfauns site, where a hotel, museum and park and ride have been proposed.

A £33.8m leisure hub on the edge of Perth, featuring a four star hotel and museum, looks set to be approved next week.

The development at West Kinfauns, on the edge of the River Tay, will include holiday lodges and shops, if it is approved by councillors.

Morris Leslie’s plans for the site, two miles east of Perth, will cost about £33.8m and is expected to attracted 80,000 visitors per year, boosting the local economy by £4m.

Views of the site, the planned leisure hub will be to the left of  Caledonian House offices.

Plant hire company Morris Leslie already owns the field, which is undeveloped other than the Caledonian House office building.

The firm has submitted a planning application in principle, which will go before a full meeting of Perth and Kinross Council on Wednesday. The application has been recommended for approval.

West Kinfauns leisure hub includes hotel and 52 chalets

A report by David Littlejohn, head of planning, says the development would include:

  • A hotel of between 120 and 150 rooms
  • Up to 52 holiday chalets
  • A transport museum and associated workshop
  • Retail and support services

A travel hub will also be included on the site, with a 100-space car park and bus stop, but this does not form part of the planning application.

Calls have also been made to include a railway link.

Drawings showing how the proposed development could look.

Wednesday’s meeting is set to see approval of planning permission in principle, but full permission will also be required at a later stage.

It is unusual for planning applications to go to full council, but due to its scale and “significant departure from the adopted local development
plan” it requires full approval.

A view of the site from Dundee Road.

Mr Littlejohn’s report says the economic benefits the development would bring justifies moving away from the local development plan.

He said: “In terms of visitor expenditure, based on a room occupancy rate of 66% it is estimated that the proposed accommodation (both the hotel and holiday chalets), could accommodate 80,970 visitor nights per year.

“Estimating a spend of £80 per night, this equates to £6 million per year.

“Accounting for expenditure elsewhere, it is estimated that £4.3 million net additional expenditure will be generated within Perth and Kinross.”

How the travel hub could look.

But not everyone is in favour of the plans, as concerns have been raised about an influx of traffic in the area.

West Carse Community Council has lodged an objection, raising the following concerns:

  • adverse transport impacts
  • road safety implications
  • proposals are of an inappropriate scale and character for the area
  • chalet layout is too dense
  • height of  the hotel is too high.

The group’s objection called the hotel “an unsightly blot”.

It added: “A reduction in height would be preferred and much more in keeping with the surroundings.

“A major development of this magnitude will have a massive impact on the volume of traffic accessing/exiting the narrow road.

Transport Scotland asked that a road safety audit be carried out, retail development on site be limited and a plan made to manage construction traffic.

Fourteen public objections have been lodged, regarding noise, smell, lighting, travel , the environment and waste management.

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