Landowner’s heartfelt plea to overturn rejected housing plan

A heartfelt appeal could help overturn a planning decision on a plot of land into which the owners say they have poured “blood, sweat and tears.”

Perth and Kinross councillors will visit Longforgan before making a decision on a controversial housing proposal.

Three councillors will visit the site on the eastern side of Old Littleton Road.

Permission had been knocked back in September for planning in principle for four houses.

Applicant Helen Craven appealed the decision and sent a handwritten letter to the council asking for permission to add five more plots to a neighbouring development, so she could sell the land which had been in her family for a century.

It read: “This is probably the most important letter I have ever written – the rest of my life depends on the outcome.

“I was born on this land. My family put blood, sweat and tears into this land as we loved and worked it. Now it is too small a field to earn a living.

“All I ask from you is to allow five more plots, opposite the others which are only a few feet and a road’s width away.

“It is not much to ask for so my brother and myself can sell off the plots to enable us to live our last few years on our own land, pay off our mortgages and live a stress-free life.

“My brother and myself are old, we have no family to leave our houses to.

“Please do not let our last years be lived in poverty and heartbreak. You have the power to end our hardship.”

The three councillors agreed that they would rather defer the decision until they had inspected the site themselves, which will be arranged as soon as possible.