Developer fails in appeal to build 80 homes near town

Ahousebuilder has failed in its appeal against an Angus Council refusal for more than 80 homes on the edge of Forfar.

The development would have been built on either site of the historic Rosie Road path leading off Arbroath Road.

But last April councillors rejected the 81-house bid by Stirling-based Ogilvie Homes.

The company was criticised for trying to cram too many houses into the undulating site.

At one time, there were plans to build 100 houses there.

Permission had been granted for around 60 homes on the six-hectare site back in 2014 but that scheme never went ahead.

Ogilvie Homes took the matter to appeal.

But a Scottish Ministers reporter has now backed the council’s refusal decision.

Ogilvie Homes planned to bulldoze a house in a row of properties on Arbroath Road to create an access for the development.

The company said houses there with septic tanks could link in to a new drainage system.

But there were more than 20 letters of objection, mainly around the scale of the planned development.

The appeal reporter said that although the site is allocated for housing, the planned layout was not acceptable.

And they highlighted the Rosie Road’s importance.

The path runs through the heart of the site, which is close to Forfar Golf Club.

“Rosie Road is a wellused but unsurfaced pedestrian footpath passing along a fenced corridor of between five and ten metres in width,” the appeal reporter said.

“The representations indicate its value to the local community and this is reflected in its designation as a core path.

“Because it cannot be altered, it places a constraint on the layout of development.”

And they said that even planned changes by the developer for rear gardens of houses facing the Rosie Road would not stop the beauty of the path being undermined.

“I do not doubt that this is the right place for development but I am not convinced that the proposals constitute the ‘right development’,” the reporter said.

One local dog walker, who did not want to be named, said: “I think the council got it right and now the reporter has got it right.

“This is a really popular path and has been for years. It would have completely changed it by having so many houses on each side of it.”

Ogilvie Homes’ developments include the Heathers in Newtyle and Drover’s Gate in Crieff.

TURNED DOWN: Ogilvie Homes sought to build 81 houses at the Rosie Road path in Forfar.