The chief executive of Perth and Kinross Council has insisted a housing giant is following rules imposed with planning permission following allegations of infringement.
Persimmon Homes is working on a 350-home development in the Lathro Meadows area between Kinross and Milnathort.
Construction started on the site in 2017 and has been the subject of a plethora of complaints from local residents, who say the developer has broken several planning conditions.
Reports of machinery being left on overnight, lack of buffer planting and houses being built to close to existing homes have all been raised with the firm.
Last month, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Roseanna Cunningham waded into the dispute, demanding that the local authority’s planning team investigate the allegations.
The MSP for Perthshire South and Kinross-shire had been contacted by the Lathro Action Group, who have documented a series of issues residents have at the site.
Now, after being approached by a Kinross-shire councillor, local authority chief executive Karen Reid has investigated the site herself.
Ms Reid responded to the councillor and local residents last week when one woman complained that houses were being built too close to her property and infringing on her privacy.
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The chief executive is standing by the conditions set out by her planning department, which she believes are being adhered to.
She said: “I fully appreciate the current impact of adjacent construction on [the resident’s] enjoyment of her property and I asked [head of planning and development] David Littlejohn to investigate.
“He has reviewed the application history and has advised that what is being built is fully in accord with the approved planning consent.
“The committee agreed with the officer recommendation that the design and layout of both the existing and new property would ensure that there was no significant adverse impact on the amenity of Lathro Lane in terms of layout or daylight.
“The approved layout and landscaping proposals did not contain any proposal for a landscape buffer strip in this location.
“The monitoring officer regularly inspects the site and will continue to address evidenced breaches of planning consent. Both myself and the depute chief executive have also visited the site.
“It is undoubtedly inconvenient to live adjacent to a building site however, arguably, this is an unavoidable consequence of urban development. ”
Perth and Kinross Council did not wish to add any further comment.
A spokesperson for Persimmon Homes North Scotland said: “Persimmon Homes is building in accordance with the plans approved by the local authority.”
