Plans for a new church and community centre have divided a Perthshire community.
The proposal for St Madoes, to be considered by councillors on Wednesday, has attracted 31 representations: 19 letters of objection and 12 in support.
Those opposed to the project cite excessive height, impact on road safety and loss of agricultural land as reasons for refusal and claim it is out of character with the area.
Supporters say the project would provide an important community hub, could accommodate local organisations and youth activities and would provide disabled-accessible facilities in comfortable, modern and purpose-built accommodation.
The site for the new church is glebe land immediately adjacent to the east of the village of St Madoes, which is currently tenanted agricultural land.
Pitfour Lodge which is C-listed and the entrance to Pitfour Castle, a category A-listed building lies to the south west of the site.
The proposed building is a modern, single-storey structure that would be six metres in height at its highest point.
“The current category B-listed church was built in 1799 and is considered by the applicants to be no longer fit for purpose, with a lack of room for modern family worship, lack of adequate disabled access for wheelchair users, safety concerns for children and the elderly, inadequate social space and safety concerns with transporting children to the existing community centre on Errol Road,” says the council’s development quality manager, Nick Brian, in a report to go before the committee.
“At present the church has to hire the community centre, which is too small for many groups, particularly children and youths, has inadequate kitchen facilities and a lack of purpose-built facilities.
“The restricted space in the community centre results in a lack of available rooms for community groups/activities and there is limited scope for sharing the space.
“A feasibility study carried out by the church states there is no scope to extend or adapt the existing church building. St Madoes and Kinfauns Parish Church has an active and wide-ranging demographic and a growing congregation, which looks to provide a large number of activities for the church and wider community.
“The church runs a significant amount of welfare events and activities, including senior citizens’ events, men’s soup lunch, holiday club and family fun days.
“The church has substantial funds for the proposed new church and community centre projects and any shortfall will be realised through fundraising, sale of assets and trust fund support.”
The recommendation to the committee is that the application be approved.