Caravan park bid at former nursery grounds

PROPOSALS have come forward for a 41-pitch caravan park on a former tree nursery on the Angus/ Perthshire border.

Tayside firm Morris Leslie Ltd hopes to create the holiday park on the now redundant Bellwood Nursery land at Brigton, Ruthven, between Meigle and Lintrathen.

The proposal, recently lodged with Angus Council, i s a watered down version of a previous plan for a larger site over two areas covering more than two hectares, which the local authority said would have to be considered as a major development.

The plan has also been influenced by the 2018 discussions with the council in which the applicants were advised development close to the River Isla special conservation area would be discouraged.

Local residents have raised concerns about the planned park’s close proximity to the “treacherous” river and argue the roads serving the site are unsuitable for the proposed visitor influx.

In a planning statement, the applicant said the development would feature 41 static caravan pitches with a central amenity and children’s play area.

“There is proposed to be ample native tree and hedgerow planting within and on the boundary of the site. The caravans themselves are likely to be timber effect twin-unit caravans, and so will have the appearance of timber lodges,” the firm added.

A biodisc waste treatment plant would be installed and water discharged into the Isla. The site would operate for 11 months of the year.

The applicants said tourism i s worth more than £240 million to the Angus economy and reported an “overwhelmingly positive” response from local businesses approached in a consultation exercise.

The council’s roads department has no objection to the scheme but local residents have aired worries over the narrow road leading to the site and safety issues.

Members of the development standards committee will consider the bid in due course.

WHEN one family realised they would not be able to go to the Royal Highland Show this year, they decided to recreate their own out of Lego and Playmobil.

The Royal Highland Show was cancelled in March due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Lorna Muirhead, 44, and her two children –

Ailie, 12, and Hamish, eight – were upset when they realised that due to the coronavirus lockdown, they would not be able to make their annual family trip to the Edinburgh show, which is a “firm family favourite”.

PROPOSALS have been unveiled for scores of giant battery packs which would help to power Dundee.

The application, submitted by Huddersfield-based company Gigabox Developments Ltd, would consist of 50 containers at the Technology Park on South Road, close to the Balgarthno Stone Circle.

The facility will provide “electrical energy storage” and will contribute towards the Scottish Government’s strategy to “decarbonise” and “safeguard” the electrical supply.

The batteries packs, which will be housed in steel shipping containers, would work by drawing power from the electricity grid, storing it and then releasing it back to the grid as required.

In its supporting statement, the firm has said these types of facilities will become commonplace in the UK over the next decade as the country moves away from carbon energy.

The proposed site is currently