Controversial Carrbridge homes recommended for green light
A long-running and highly contentious planning application for housing in Carrbridge could finally be drawing to a close today.
Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) planners are recommending that Tulloch Homes’ proposals for 47 new homes on the village’s Boys Brigade Field should be approved.
There has been a raft of objections by residents, conservation groups and the village’s community council to the development at the 1.99 hectare site off Carr Place.
The wrangle to build on the site has been raging since 2004 when an application for 117 dwellings was submitted for a wider area.
Plans also comprising the site and another parcel of land for 96 houses in 2013 were rejected by the CNPA on grounds of lack of information.
But this time the go-ahead is being recommended despite concerns over:
n Road safety being compromised on the single carriageway on Carr Road.
n The impact on village infrastructure including the school, sewerage system and water supplies.
n Disturbance to capercaillie in nearby protected areas for the bird.
n The appropriateness of the housing development.
Carrbridge Community Council said the current scale of development and road safety concerns especially for school children meant it was continuing its objection to the project.
Vice-chairman George Dyer said: “The planned number of houses is not compatible with the use of Carr Road as a safe corridor for all users be they in vehicles, on cycles or foot; or with or without prams and pushchairs.
“The application should not be approved on the basis ‘something will be sorted out in the future’ for the route to school.”
A required Habitats Regulations Appraisal concluded that the housing development would not create additional disturbance on several nearby Special Protected Areas designated for capercaillie because of the existing network of high-quality paths.
The Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group will be speaking out against the development
at the planning meeting.
Chairman Dr Gus Jones said: “We are deeply concerned at how the park authority has failed to protect this site that was among the best flower and fungi-rich fields anywhere in the Cairngorms.
“The board are now being asked to rely on a deeply flawed assessment of the impacts on capercaillie.
“People can reasonably question the value of a park authority that seems to be doing the bidding of the developer at the expense of environment and community interests.”
The RSPB has said it is not opposed to the development in principle but said
any go-ahead should be subject to an appropriate recreation plan being put in place.
Eleven of the 47 houses and flats are proposed as affordable homes.
Planners point out the site is not covered by any environmental designations.
CNPA planning officer Stephanie Wade states in her report to the committee: “The layout and design of the new development is of a good standard and will deliver new housing within a landscaped setting in keeping with the established character and woodland setting of the village.”
Members of the CNPA's planning committee will meet today in Boat of Garten Community Hall from 11.30am to determine this and other proposals including plans for a new whisky distillery at Lower Gaich and new homes in Dulnain Bridge.
