Members of a remote Perthshire community are battling to block “major” plans for a budget holiday camp.
Eco Camp Scotland wants to set up 60 tent pitches, 25 camping pods and eight timber lodges across 16 acres of land at Kinvaid Farm, north of Moneydie.
Agents for the company said the plans were submitted after “considerable market research”. They said the site would be aimed at tourists looking for “a simple low cost, low impact holiday sampling the best that Perthshire has to offer”.
However, the proposal has received a frosty reception from some locals. Nearly 30 people have written to Perth and Kinross Council, calling for the scheme to be scrapped.
Among the objectors is the Luncarty, Redgorton and Moneydie Community Council.
Chairman George Black said: “Moneydie is a very quiet, rural area where the main industry is farming. The application has created a lot of interest in the community, a substantial number of whom are solidly against the proposed change-of-use.”
He said the development would have “significant impact” on the area’s network of narrow, single track roads.
“The increased traffic of visitors staying at the campsite, travelling to and from the site and visiting attractions elsewhere, will lead to road safety problems, not only for motorists but also to cyclists on the signposted cycle route, and pedestrians.”
Other objectors have argued that, because of the size of the proposal, it should be treated as a “major application” by council officers, meaning it would need to come under wider scrutiny,
In paperwork lodged with the local authority, a spokesman for designers Aptus Architects said: “The main focus of the brief is to create a sustainable eco-campsite, sustainable both in an environmental but also financial sense.
“There is also a strong desire to retain and enhance the natural shelter and beauty of the site.”