Blairgowrie residents prepare for new battle over housing

Blairgowrie residents who fought off a controversial housing plan are facing a fresh battle.

Developers have lodged revised proposals for “care cottage” homes off Golf Course Road.

Aberdeen-based Sted Investments wants to build eight properties across one-and-a-halfacres of land next to the Beech Manor Care Home.

The company had last year tabled similar plans for 10 semidetached cottages, but withdrew the proposal in the face of widespread opposition.

In 2011, another Aberdeen firm, Argus Construction, wanted to build 16 properties in and around the same site.

The plan was rejected after complaints from neighbours. A similar scheme was lodged and thrown out a year earlier.

Now, almost 30 residents have formally objected to the latest development.

They believe the cottages will lead to an increase in traffic congestion and a loss of parking. There are also worries that the privacy of care home residents could be negatively affected.

One local said: “The amount of traffic trying to park by the home is already at saturation point.

“If eight more homes were built it would mean even more traffic, as it would mean more large refuse lorries, delivery lorries, library vans, post vans, ambulances, all trying to pass down a very small road.”

Residents have also questioned whether the scheme will really offer care services, or if it is simply an ordinary housing estate.

No one from Sted Investments could be reached for comment.

The original plan for eight cottages and eight apartments was rejected by councillors who argued it would have an “adverse, negative impact on the density and character of the local area”.

Developers failed to get the decision overturned with an appeal to the Scottish Government.

The home was built following demolition of the Rosemount Golf Hotel several years ago.