A Perthshire politician has slammed a decision by the Scottish Government to “seize control” of plans for a new village on the outskirts of Perth.
Alexander Stewart, Scottish Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, claims the move to allow Holyrood to decide the fate of the Oudenarde proposal, destined for Bridge of Earn, is taking “decision-making responsibility” away from local councillors.
The shock decision was revealed last week at a meeting of Perth and Kinross Council’s planning and development committee.
Council chiefs had looked set to approve the Oudenarde village plan.
However, the Scottish Government seized control of the application at the eleventh hour following concerns that had been raised by Transport Scotland regarding how the proposed development would impact the nearby M90 Perth to Inverkeithing motorway.
Mr Stewart, himself a former councillor with Perth and Kinross Council and now Shadow Minister for Local Government, voiced his concerns at the intervention from Holyrood.
“I was, along with my constituents, deeply troubled by the news that the Scottish Government has seized control of the plans for a new 1,500 home village in Bridge of Earn from the oversight of Perth and Kinross Council,” he said.
“The SNP Government and not locally elected councillors will now decide the fate of this project.
“This is an outrage and is a slap in the face to localism. Local democracy has been undermined by removing the decision making responsibility away from Perth and Kinross Council.
“This is very much an example of the continuing centralisation strategy by the Scottish Government.”
He continued: “This issue is pertinent, as the Planning Bill exacerbates this issue since the bill includes the draconian power to transfer functions from a local authority if a minister decides a council’s planning department isn’t performing.
“This bill could enable the Scottish Government to centralise decision making and the Scottish Government would even be able to take over a planning department.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson commented: “The application for Oudenarde in Bridge of Earn has been called in by Ministers due to the proposal’s potential impact on trunk road infrastructure and road safety.”
And he defended the proposed Planning Bill.
“The aim of the Planning Bill is to create an effective planning system that will help deliver the housing, infrastructure and investment that current and future generations need,” he added.
Perth and Kinross Council said they could only confirm that the plan had been “called in” by the Scottish Government.
Geoff Brown, chairman of Oudenarde project leader GS Brown, reacted angrily to the development saying said he had “never known” anything like it.
