More than 100 new homes will be built in Bridge of Earn, despite concerns about the impact of additional housing on healthcare and schools.
Perth and Kinross Council’s planning committee approved an application from Scotia Homes for a site southwest of Kintillo Cemetery.
Permission for 110 homes has been granted. The scheme will include 83 properties for the open market and 27 affordable homes.
However, Earn Community Council chairman John Bruce was among those raising the alarm about the scale and impact of the scheme.
He said: “Initially this was to be a site for 55 houses.”
Mr Bruce questioned the choice of access route and the proposed location of the electricity substation.
He also raised concerns about the lack of school places locally.
Mr Bruce said: “We have the Oudenarde development to the east on which – if 100 more houses are built – a new school will be built. But here we don’t have this requirement.
“And yet primary infants aged five are being bussed away from their local community to schools in Perth because of the lack of schooling in Dunbarney.”
Objector Gavin Lindsay echoed these concerns.
“Bussing primary age children to Perth is tearing the social fabric of our village apart,” he said.
He also pointed to the impact on medical provision.
It comes after the Bridge of Earn GP surgery closed suddenly in 2019.
Work on Bridge of Earn housing set to start next year
Councillors were assured “no children” from the Scotia Homes development would be denied entry to their local school.
Planning officer Sean Panton said: “The children from this development will go to Dunbarney Primary School.
“In Bridge of Earn there are two different catchments and it’s essentially the M90 that divides it.
“East of that is Oudenarde and there is no school built there yet so they are bussed to Perth and west of that is Dunbarney.
“Dunbarney is at capacity and that is why we have sought an education contribution of £426,030.”
Roger Laird, Planning and Strategic Land Manager at Scotia Homes, welcomed the committee’s decision.
He said: “The now approved plans encompass a range of one, two, three and four- bedroom houses, designed to accommodate prospective buyers of all levels of the market.
“The development will create substantial inward investment to the area as well as creating employment opportunities and support apprenticeship roles during the construction phase.”
Work is due to start next year with a completion target of 2027.
Conversation