Villagers’ fury at house plan
A Kinross-shire community has rallied and lodged 70 objections against a solitary house being built on the fringes of their village.
Perth-based builder A&J Stephen’s plans to build a hillside house on the eastern edge of Kinnesswood have been hit by a wall of complaints by the village’s residents.
The application, submitted to Perth and Kinross Council planners in September 2017, would see a house built on land 50m south of between Bishop Terrace and the Scottish Water Plant.
However, residents of the village, located on the eastern shore of Loch Leven and on the edge of the Lomond Hills, have expressed a number of fears over privacy, the land’s current use by walkers and the development’s detrimental effect to wildlife habitat.
Residents also argue that the plans are not in keeping with the current LDP (local development plan), and expressed fears over the height of structures built on the hillside.
The developers have admitted that trees will need to be removed and a core path will need to be altered in order for construction to begin, however the land adjacent, which currently belongs to A&J Stephen, will be freed for public use.
This is a factor that Portmoak Community Council welcomed, but they did not feel it mitigated the situation enough to support it, and voted to lodge a formal objection at a meeting earlier this year.
A Portmoak CC spokesperson said: “Stephens’ offer was to transfer the substantive remainder of the field into community ownership in the event of their receiving planning permission.
“Since October, the CC had participated, along with PKC officers and A&J Stephen, in two meetings. These had included exploring the possibility of an alternative site for the house elsewhere in the field.
“While these meetings had yielded further information, there had been no progress on the principal matter of the house site.”
An A&J Stephen spokesperson said: “We own approximately 16 acres of land, known locally as Stephen’s field, which we have kept out of agricultural use for many years.
“This has enabled the community to enjoy the use of this land for informal recreational purposes.
“If consent was granted for our proposal, the ownership of the remainder of the land would be transferred to the CC at no cost along with a £9000 cash contribution.
“Unfortunately, at a recent CC meeting, a vote was held amongst those attending the meeting to formally object to the proposal for the house and open space. As a consequence of this vote PKC are now likely to refuse planning consent.
“This is disappointing given that the CC previously undertook a survey of the village in 2015 and the vast majority supported just such a proposal.
“In our opinion, it seems a shame that the 20 or so attendees at the recent CC meeting have ignored the previously expressed will of the village residents and prevented the ownership being transferred to the community at no cost.”
No progress on principal matter