Inchture housing bid is up for review

Developer asks DPEA to reverse PKC’s refusal

A developer has asked the Scottish Government to review a council decision to deny it permission to build houses next to a potato packing factory in Inchture.

Perth and Kinross councillors voted to refuse Hadden Construction’s application to build 66 new homes next to Taypack Potatoes last month in line with a recommendation from the local authority’s own environmental health department to withhold planning permission.

According to a report presented to the council’s planning committee the department concluded the scheme “could not be supported in its current format” as there were concerns noise emitted from refrigerated lorries stopping for extended periods at the factory would disturb those moving into the new development.

Councillors were also persuaded to turn down the application after Jim Lochhead of Taypack Potatoes informed the committee the Scottish Government had previously stated the site on Moncur Road could not support any more than 16 houses when it assessed the local authority’s proposed Local Development Plan (LDP).

However an agent acting for Hadden Construction has now written to the government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) seeking to overturn the council’s veto claiming the weight attached to the environmental health department’s opposition to the scheme was “disproportionate”.

“The appellant ... questions why the significance of the impact from one noise source ... was not flagged up sooner by the objectors or the planning authority at the time of allocating site H24 [for housing in the LDP],” the agent argues, “nor did the planning authority appear to be too concerned about the issue in terms of [a strategic environmental assessment], nor when screening an EIA (environmental impact assessment) for [a] previous ... application for 74 units, and then finally confirmed that no EIA would be required for the appeal proposals.”

The agent continues: “In respect of allegedly parked HGVs with refrigeration units, this factor was only recently raised by the EHO (environmental health officer) a week before the planning officer report to committee was drafted.

“The appellant considers there to be a mutually sympathetic relationship between the EHO and Taypack to the extent several conclusions in the EHO consultation response commentary is subjective rather than fact based.

“It is the weight that the planning authority has decided to attach to objections made by the existing consented neighbouring potato packing business ... which the appellant considers disproportionate and without proper substantiation or explanation.”

The agent has also argued the council was “comfortable” to let Hadden Construction build 66 houses on the site instead of just 16, adding in grounds for appeal: “[I]ndeed, the planning officer commended the appellant’s response to design and placemaking”.

The appeal has been deemed to be in order but has yet to be allocated to a Scottish Government reporter.