Campaigners in Stanley are celebrating after councillors agreed to allow a modern new community centre and sports hub to go ahead.
Perth and Kinross Council planners rejected the application earlier this year.
But the Stanley Development Trust appealed against that decision.
And on Monday, the council’s local review body agreed it was too good an opportunity for the village to miss.
The proposed Stanley community hub will include a large multipurpose hall, community cafe and soft play area, gymnasium, meeting rooms, lettable office space and multi-games sports pitches.
The plans – for a derelict tennis court in the centre of the village – have been around a decade in the making.
And Perth and Kinross Council received 228 comments in connection with the application, 207 of them in support.
Jo Hardy, from the Stanley Development Trust, said it was a great day for the village.
“It has taken so many years of hard work by so many people to get us to this point,” she said.
“But there is a real strength of feeling in the community, and real support for the opportunities that this will bring.
“It’s not going to happen overnight,” she added.
“But we are delighted that we can start to get on with the process. Now the hard work really begins.”
Still work to be done to turn Stanley community hub into reality
Jo said the team acknowledged there are still hurdles to overcome.
The plans require the demolition of the neighbouring disused church hall. But it is a listed building and permission to demolish it has also been refused.
One option may be to apply to Historic Environment Scotland for that listing to be removed.
There’s also the small matter of fundraising for a project on this scale.
Stanley has a pot of funding in place, thanks to developer contributions connected to recent house-building in the area.
The trust will also go back to funders, who have said they would be open to supporting the project if it could secure planning permission.
Community benefits are overriding concern
Planers had previously refused the application, saying it was contrary to the local development plan.
Their concerns centred on the impact on the neighbouring Category C-listed St Columba’s Episcopal Church and Stanley war memorial.
However, the trust submitted evidence from heritage experts, who stated that the development would have “no meaningful impact” on people’s ability to appreciate the two features.
And the council’s local review body agreed that the positives outweighed the negatives.
One of the three councillors on the panel, Dave Cuthbert, said: “My view on this is that were Kinross, which is in my ward, offered such a facility they would take your arm off for it.
“Looking at what’s proposed it’s fantastic, and there are very wide community benefits.”
Councillor Ian Massie agreed: “I think the community benefits override the development plan. It has huge support within the community.”
The local review body exists to consider appeals against applications which have been rejected by planning officers under delegated powers.
Its convener, councillor Bob Brawn, went along with the decision of planners in this case. But the appeal was upheld by a majority of two votes to one.
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