Almond Valleyplans couldstart nextyear

Developers behind the proposed Almond Valley village say work could begin next year.

The plans for Almond Valley between Huntingtower and Ruthvenfield include 1300 homes, a primary school and leisure facilities.

The plans had previously been rejected by Perth and Kinross Council in 2004 and 2011, and were subsequently removed from the local development plan in January 2012. However, in October 2013 the Scottish Government decided the council should re-adopt Almond Valley in its local development plan.

Last year, the Pilkington Trust’s scheme was again rejected, but was then successful on appeal to Scottish Government developers.

Alastair Wood, head of planning with Savills on behalf of the trust, said: “We’d hope work will start sometime next year.

“The Cross Tay Link Road project has already begun so that will alleviate traffic from Almond Valley. We’ve brought forward plans for screening and the site will be built in phases so it will not feel like a building site.

“If the Scottish Government Reporter is satisfied she will then proceed to issue the planning permission.

“Once we have the consent in place, we will start to look at bringing forward the new updated masterplan, which will highlight a host of further details in terms of landscaping, planting, access parking and street layout.

“It will be up to the council to determine it but I would hope we wouldn’t need to go back to committee stage.”