More housing is on the cards for Perth

Proposal revealed for additional 550 homes to be built

Developers have submitted a bid to build yet more housing west of Perth at a site where planners have previously decided up to 550 homes could be constructed.

There are already plans in the pipeline to build around 3000 new homes at Bertha Park plus another 1300 at Almond Valley as well as a further 200 at the former United Auctions site off the Fair City’s Crieff Road.

Now the PA has learned a proposal of application notice (PAN) was lodged with Perth and Kinross Council the week before Christmas for another site west of Perth by an associate of estate agents Strutt & Parker on behalf of M & SM Bullough and A Ritchie & Son.

The application is for planning permission “in principle” for a new residential development at Huntingtower as well as a “possible” primary school, district heating system and park and ride.

The council’s current Local Development Plan (LDP) identifies the 60 hectare site as “H70” and says the site can accommodate “a maximum of 550 [houses] with employment space and/or [a] primary school”.

A public exhibition outlining the initial proposals is now due to take place at the Huntingtower Hotel on Thursday, January 26, between 2.30pm and 7pm.

Local councillors, Methven and District Community Council and the Tulloch and Letham Residents’ Associations have all been notified.

This event will be followed by another exhibition which is expected to take place in March or April next year which will show the final proposals.

There are a number of “site specific developer requirements” set out in the LDP in relation to the H70 site with one stating it cannot be developed until the A9/A85 junction improvements, which are currently underway, are completed.

An additional “note” has also been written into the LDP stating that an area of so-called “white land” to the south of H70 also has “development potential”.

The “note” says: “The area of white land to the south of H70 is excluded from the Green Belt and included within the settlement boundary so as to preserve its development potential, which could come forward through a