Blairgowrie housing plan back on track after report lodged

Controversial plans to expand Perthshire’s biggest town are back on track after developers finally lodged outstanding paperwork.

If approved, the multi-millionpound Westpark project will see around 400 houses built on the edge of Blairgowrie. The plans also include a new primary school, supermarket and offices.

Agents say the scheme will have tangible economic benefits for the area, but planning officers have already received 70 letters and emails from residents calling for the scheme to be scrapped.

When the plans were lodged in June, Westpark was told it needed to submit a full environmental assessment report within 28 days – or face having their plan recommended for refusal.

The company missed the deadline, but lodged its plan a few days later. The study concludes the development will “not increase or exacerbate the risk of flooding” and will have a “negligible” effect on the environment.

There will be moderate risk of potential contamination on the site impacting on the development, it states.

“Given the construction of the development will be in line with legislation, guidance and best practice, and in accordance with an approved Construction Environmental Management Plan, the risk of the construction phases contaminating ground and water resources is minor,” the company spokesman said.

Now that the new study has been lodged and made public, planning officers will not automatically call for the scheme to be rejected.

The plans are likely to go before councillors for a final decision later this year.

Objectors have questioned the benefits to the town and surrounding area. One said: “It is criminal that this particularly picturesque area could be irreversibly destroyed – and it will be – with no thought for tourism and wildlife.”

Earlier this month, separate plans to build around 217 homes at nearby Rattray were shelved.