700 new homes bid sparks public meeting in Scone
Scone and District Community Council (SDCC) has announced it is to hold an extraordinary public meeting next week to bring residents up to date on its deliberations over a highly controversial application to build hundreds of new houses north of the village.
It comes as members continue to pore over the 1,300 page planning application that was lodged with Perth and Kinross Council by A&J Stephen just before Christmas seeking permission to build up to 700 new houses at Scone North.
SDCC member Martin Rhodes said the meeting has been arranged in part to ensure residents who have already expressed opposition to the proposals now make official objections to PKC so their opinions are properly considered by planning officials.
Mr Rhodes stressed recent responses to the group’s own questionnaire, which revealed over 1,100 people were against the idea of new housing being built at Scone North ahead of the construction of the proposed Cross Tay Link Road (CTLR), will NOT be considered when the application is determined.
“What many people are not aware of is that they have to respond yet again [and] register their objections [with the council],” he said.
“Most people thought that by returning the questionnaire [to us] that was registering their objection - but no!”
The public meeting is scheduled to take place at the Robert Douglas Memorial Institute on Thursday starting at 7.30pm and Mr Rhodes hopes it will be well attended by villagers who wish to make representations.
It comes as SDCC succeeded in raising over £2,500 through a crowdfunding campaign to hire specialist consultants to further scrutinise A&J Stephen’s application and make recommendations on how to successfully argue the application should be refused. Donations can still be made to the fund at https://www.gofundme. com/sconestudygroup
SDCC also announced plans this week to hand deliver information sheets to every household highlighting the fact that residents have until the end of the month to register their objections.
Mr Rhodes said: “The information sheet will detail a number of important points [we] feel will have a serious impact on the village and the community and [we] hope that each household will send in a letter of objection to the planning department in order to put pressure on PKC to delay or cancel the building of the initial 100 houses until the CTLR is built.”