Homes development plan for old mart site

Councillors were cock-a-hoop this week as they welcomed fresh plans to redevelop a site which has lain derelict since United Auctions cleared out of Perth almost a decade ago.

Several members of the local authority’s development management committee said Barratt Homes Scotland’s most recent application to start building houses on the old Perth Mart site west of the city should be supported when it came up for discussion on Wednesday.

The committee accepted the council’s official recommendation to approve the first phase of the company’s planned development, which will see 43 new two-storey homes built next to Dobbies Garden Centre along with new access roads and footpaths.

Members also heard another application for a further 208 houses to be built south of the site - phase two of the developmentwas already being considered by city planners.

A paper before the committee alluded to there being a phase three planned as well.

It said:“Phase two shows the provision of 68 affordable dwellings [which] would meet the affordable housing requirement of 25 per cent for the overall site early in the development.

“Phases two and three would also see the provision of the open space and play area requirements for the overall site.

“A planning application has been submitted for the remaining phases and will be presented to the planning and development management committee in due course.”

Perth City North councillor Harry Coates commented:“I feel [this is] an area of land that really does need something doing with it. It’s basically a derelict piece of land that’s stood there for as long as I’ve been in Perth and we really need to do something with it.”

Councillor Ian James concurred, adding:“I use the road [next to the site] on a daily basis and this development, I think, is an absolute bonus.

“I don’t think this is overdevelopment and we’re actually getting proper family homes with gardens, rather than ... tiny homes with no gardens.

“I think this will be an absolute bonus to the area.”

Moving to approve the proposal Councillor Henry Anderson added:“I’m glad to see that now we have managed to get a developer to come forward and I’d be quite happy to go forward with this.”

Councillor Tom Gray seconded the motion and there was no opposition to the proposal being passed.

Barratt Homes Scotland’s application for phase two of the development is currently out for public consultation.

An absolute bonus for the area