Businessman threatens court action
application just hours before last week’s planned meeting.
Mr Brown said other developers had also been on stand-by to begin work on the former Bridge of Earn hospital site, where 119 affordable homes have already been built.
But the shock intervention by Holyrood leaves local politicians powerless and the multi-millionpound project in limbo.
“We are ready to appeal this outrageous decision and it could go to the Court of Session,” warned Mr Brown yesterday.
“The council was expected to pass the Oudenarde application but out of nowhere the Scottish Government called it in. I couldn’t believe it.
“We have already invested £16million in this project and right now we are still not sure if they have the legal authority to do so.
“We have Wimpey standing by to develop 159 homes on the first site, we have committed to building a bridge to open up land for a new school and Hillcrest Housing Association wants to develop 190 affordable homes.
“Wimpey intended being onsite in March with homes to be occupied by the end of the year. That timetable has been blown right out of the water.
“We have politicians clamouring for homes to be delivered yet this happens. We have no idea how long we will be left hanging. Around 150 construction jobs were earmarked up here. How is the building industry meant to cope?”
Transport Scotland had raised concerns over road links to the nearby M90.
But Mr Brown, who is also the main shareholder with St Johnstone FC, said: “The plans for the site have been on the table for a long, long time so the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland had plenty of time to act if they saw fit.
“But for some inexplicable reason they left it until the very last minute and took everyone, including councillors and officials, by surprise.
“We signed a section 75 legal development with the council after two years dealing with their outsourced lawyers and clocking up the bills. We have spent £1million alone on a roundabout to access the development.
“That agreement cemented our commitments in terms of planning gain yet we still had to challenge a subsequent council condition regarding roundabouts and sliproads from the motorway.
“I believe mistakes have been made by the local authority and Transport Scotland and we are being left to pick up the bill for someone else’s incompetence.
“We have been in discussions with top lawyers and they assure us the handling of this application is unprecedented at a local or national level.”
Responding to Mr Brown’s remarks a Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The application for Oudenarde in Bridge of Earn has been called in by Ministers due to the proposal’s potential impact on trunk road infrastructure and road safety.
“This application will be considered and a decision will be issued in due course. Ministers become involved in planning applications and appeals very sparingly and only when proposals raise issues of national importance.”
And a Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “The requirement for infrastructure to serve the Oudenarde development has been well established through previous discussions with the developer and council.
“We have a Minute of Agreement between ourselves and the developer to deliver the infrastructure required to allow safe and efficient access to the proposed development and it remains our position that this be delivered in line with the conditions that previously existed in the section 75.”
A Perth and Kinross Council spokesperson added: “The assessment of the application will now be made by the Scottish Government, including the appropriateness of conditions relating to road improvements.”