Bid to afford better protection for Culloden battlefield
A "long overdue" review of planning rules around Culloden Battlefield to protect the historic site would still have to allow for "reasonable development", a senior councillor has underlined.
Thomas Prag, chairman of the planning, development and infrastructure committee, said the management plan would help to protect the battlefield but it could not rule out all development.
The new boundary would protect a far larger area around the site of the 1746 battle than the current zone by restricting housebuilding and forcing existing homeowners to seek planning permission for alterations
But Councillor Prag told members of the City of Inverness Area Committee it was not the be-all-and-end-all some people may be hoping for.
"Lets not imagine this actually prevents any and every development in the area from ever happening again," he said. "We’ve got to be a little bit careful not to raise expectations.
"We’ve talked about it as a protection, which it should be, but actually it still has to allow for reasonable development. If this is accepted and becomes statute we will then have better grounds on which to base our decisions."
The new conservation boundary document, called the Culloden Moor Conservation Area Management Plan, is the first major review of the existing conservation by the council for the first time in 47 years.
It is going out to public consultation for six weeks from March 23rd. Amendments must be approved by the council before prior to final adoption and notification to Scottish Government. It will then be included as supplementary guidance to the Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan.
The document was ratified by the area committee in Inverness on Thursday (March 5) as the row continues over the granting of consent for 16 new homes at Viewhill Farm, Balloch, half a mile from the battlefield.
However, the new conservation zone, if approved, would not stand in the way of those homes being built because planning permission was granted by the Scottish Government last year after Highland Council turned the scheme down.
Jim Crawford, Inverness South councillor, said he hoped the government would speed through the process of ratifying the new conservation boundary.
Councillor Ken MacLeod, Inverness Millburn, said it aggravated him to see Culloden Moor being referred to as Culloden Muir in the council’s consultation document.
He said: "Please let’s abolish this alien word and revert to what it used to be."
Kerry Hawthorne, the council’s conservation officer, said: "The word muir was abolished in the 15th or 16th Century but you will notice in the new proposed conservation area is that we actually take in quite a significant part of pre-history.
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"We have actually gone back through maps and that’s purely where that terminology comes from. If we’re not comfortable with that it can be changed."
Copies of the proposed appraisal will be available on the council’s website and in libraries, services points and council offices. The National Trust, Historic Scotland, Forestry Commission Scotland, Glasgow University, and Highland Historic Building Trust among others will be consulted.
Inverness South councillor Ken Gowans, who agreed with fellow ward members to approve £7,000 from the ward discretionary budget for the proposals to be researched, said people worldwide were following the Culloden battlefield review process.