Westpark application re-submitted
Site earmarked for new houses
Controversial plans for a housing and retail development on the outskirts of Blairgowrie are back on the table after a key document was submitted to council planners.
Hundreds of new houses, a discount supermarket chain understood to be Lidl - a care home, spaces for business and areas for community use could be phased in over a number of years on a 70-acre site off Blairgowrie’s Perth Road on the A93 approach to the town.
The ‘in principle’ application – earmarked for an area referred to as Westpark – ran into trouble with Perth and Kinross Council after it was revealed it was initially submitted without environmental impact assessment (EIA).
This resulted in it being issued with a ‘stop the clock’ notice – used as part of the planning procedure when the applicant has not submitted the required information to allow it to be formally assessed and determined.
However, a meeting of Blairgowrie and Rattray Community Council heard on Thursday last week that the EIA had now been submitted and the project had been resurrected as a result.
Community councillor Stuart Nichol described the feeling at various public meetings called in relation to the proposals as being “split”, with “a lot” of people against it but “quite a number highly supportive” of the concept for a variety of reasons.
A discussion on the finer points of the project ensued, during which fellow community councillor Ally Donald warned of the potential of the town being “left behind” if its residents persistently put up barriers to future development.
Mr Nichol added: “The principle of the development is fine, but it’s how it’s planned out which is the key – and if it complies with planning regulations.”
A member of the public at the gathering held in the Adult Resource Centre on Jessie Street mentioned the impact the sheer scale of the mooted plan could have on existing and future facilities in the town – particularly parking at the recently-agreed new recreation centre.
“We’re going to have to go back to the drawing board [in terms of the number of car parking spaces at the new recreation centre].
“It’s not going to be fit for purpose,” she said.
After a discussion on the impact any new supermarket would have on local shops, Mr Nicoll stressed that the application was very much still at the “in principle” stage and that further details would be forthcoming.
On whether or not the community council should lodge a formal comment on the bid at this stage, he said: “We’re not at the ‘detailed’ stage yet.
“Myself, I would do nothing at this point in as much as the application is still at the ‘in principle’ stage. When the detailed plans come in we’ve got something to examine, something to work with – as opposed to commenting on the principle, which we’re not objecting to.”