Locals express fears over Kinloch project
Meeting hears of objections to holiday units plan
Those opposed to plans for 11 holiday accommodation units on the outskirts of Blairgowrie have said the additional future traffic caused by the potential development could pose safety issues.
The application in relation to the site at West Gormack, Kinloch – which was submitted to Perth and Kinross Council in May – has received around a dozen objections and will therefore have to be considered by the local authority’s planning and development management committee.
The proposals include changing a number of agricultural buildings to form eight holiday accommodation units, building an additional three holiday accommodation units and a utility building, and the formation of access roads, car parking, drainage and associated works.
Six local residents from West Gormack attended the most recent meeting of Blairgowrie and Rattray Community Council, held in the Adult Resource Centre on Jessie Street, to raise a number of concerns about the proposals with the community council and ask for its support in fighting the application.
Seiki Payne told the meeting: “I am a new resident in the area but my main concern about these proposals is the very narrow, single track access road to the site.
“The road leading from the south of Kinloch up to West Gormack Farm and beyond is a single-tracked road with sharp bends and steep rising.
“We are only at the bottom of it but have two sharp corners with very poor visibility and a steep embankment on one side and an unprotected drop into the woodland and creek below.
“We walk and cycle regularly on this road and already feel somewhat unsafe in certain sections. Increasing traffic by such a large degree would undoubtedly make the road less safe which would discourage our use for the road for leisure.”
Mr Payne added: “The new application calls for 24 parking spaces, up from two, so an additional 22 vehicles on the road. The best case scenario for this is that these are local people who know the road and when to slow down for blind corners, etc.
“The additional traffic in our view would be unsafe even in this best case scenario as there are very few passing areas on the road. However, the development intends to build holiday letting units, which would put drivers on the road who are inexperienced with the layout and dangerous areas.
“We are aware of three proposed passing bays on a small section of the road but this section is largely straight, wide with good visibility and would be considered relatively safe in its current configuration compared to the rest of the road leading to Kinloch.
“We strongly believe that these changes fall well short of the requirements to improve road safety to sustain the additional 22 vehicles.
“There are currently 14 properties on the road and this development would increase this to 24, almost doubling the number of properties there.”
Fellow residents Andrew and Anne Barrett has also objected to the plans.
Mr Barrett said: “We have lived at the end of the road since 2007 and the plan for this holiday development was originally submitted a year or so ago.
“It was met with strong protests, partly on the grounds of the unsuitability of the road which has seven blind bends.
“It is not a safe road.
“We have a petition signed by 34 people and we would like the support of the community council to help us oppose this.”
Mrs Barrett added: “The applicant is going to be an absentee landlord so won’t be affected by the ensuing chaos that this will cause.
“As far as the local development plan goes, this will be of no benefit to local residents and will be detrimental to the whole area.”
And retired farmer Kirsty Mundell said: “This project boundaries on the Cateran Trail and there is nowhere for walkers to go on the single track road when vehicles go past.
“Adding extra traffic on the road is not a good thing for walkers or cyclists.
“We also have concerns about the management of the site as there is no manager’s house in the plans.
“We don’t feel that this has been looked at properly at all.”
Blairgowrie and Glens ward councillor Bob Brawn was at the meeting.
He said that, as he was vice-convener for PKC’s planning and development management committee, he couldn’t comment on the application but noted that it would have to considered by the committee due to the number of objections it had received.
He said it was not on the agenda for the committee’s next meeting, which is due to be held on Tuesday this week.
Recently-elected chair of the community council, Morag Young, said that individual objections to planning applications “hold more weight” than objections from the community council, which would only count as one objection.
The community council agreed to write to the committee objecting to the proposals.