Green light expected for housing on former Perth auction mart site

A bid to build hundreds of new houses at a Perth eyesore has been recommended for approval.

Perth and Kinross councillors will decide next week whether to give the green light to 200 properties at the former auction mart at East Huntingtower.

The site has been derelict since Perth Agricultural Centre closed, and a number of previous ideas to transform the area have fallen through.

EMA Architecture and Design has started working on the first 43 houses after phase one was approved this summer. Now the developer is seeking permission for a further 208.

The proposal includes two-storey flats and houses ranging from two to five bedrooms.

A report for the planning and development management committee’s meeting, to be held tomorrow, recommends granting planning permission.

It said: “The proposal fully accords with national guidance and development plan policy in relation to residential development on an urban brownfield site.

“The proposal is acceptable in terms of its design, density, siting and landscape impact.

“The development can be satisfactorily accessed, together with the implementation of the current junction improvements to the A85/A9 junction.”

Since the livestock mart closed, the site has been earmarked for various developments, including a gym, hotel, petrol station and Sainsbury’s supermarket.

However previous plans all floundered, and the land became a magnet for fly-tipping.

Concerns have been raised that there may be historic items on the site, which has been deemed “highly archaeologically sensitive” due to its proximity to the site of the Battle of Tippermuir, fought in 1644.

A proposed condition would require the developer to carry out an examination and excavations, if necessary.