Noise row delays planning inquiry

Inchture site hearings moved back to October

A public inquiry concerning a housebuilder’s unsuccessful bid to develop a site in Inchture has been postponed following a dispute over the council’s late submission of evidence.

The postponement comes after one of the local authority’s planning officers sought to persuade the Scottish Government to consider new noise readings taken near where Hadden Construction wants to build 66 new homes on Moncur Road during the hearings.

Solicitors acting for the company, which is contesting the council’s recent refusal of its planning application over concerns about noise emanating from a nearby potato packing factory, objected to this request. Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP argued that the timing of the submission made it “impossible” for their client to consider the new data ahead of the inquiry, which was supposed to start next Wednesday.

The Scottish Government reporter tasked with considering the appeal has now rescheduled the inquiry and written to all of the above urging them to cooperate and agree on what evidence she should and should not consider during proceedings.

Correspondence published on the government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division’s (DPEA) website shows PKC planning officer Callum Petrie had written to the department last week saying it had “come to light” their noise consultant wanted to submit recent readings ahead of the inquiry starting.

“The council considers that these readings will assist the reporter’s understanding of the determining issues of the inquiry,” he wrote.

“Accordingly, I now submit two attachments which are proposed as additional background documents. I would respectfully request that the reporter accepts these documents as late submissions on the council’s behalf.”

But Ewan MacLeod, a partner at Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP, then wrote to the DPEA arguing: “Any new document on which the council intended to rely should have been lodged no later than July 25.

“The proposed documents run to more than 70 pages of detailed graphs and illustrations.

“There is limited information contained within the documents that allows a proper interrogation and understanding of their content.

“That would have made life difficult for the appellants had the documents been lodged on time on July 25 but now makes matters impossible for the appellants to deal with in the very limited time available to consider this complex voluminous additional material.”

A case officer has now written to all interested parties stating: “From the documents submitted, the reporter considers that there might be scope for some common ground to be reached between the appellant, the council and [objectors] IPL.

“This could include an agreed set of noise measurements, levels, methodology and guidance. In the interests of assisting the inquiry and ensuring that it focuses on those matters in dispute, parties are requested to collaborate in producing a Statement of Agreed Matters.”

The inquiry has now been rescheduled to start at the end of October.