Conservation charity calls for overhaul to planning laws

A LEADING conservation charity has warned that Scotland’s heritage is in danger of being ridden roughshod over with plans being submitted for four new developments close to Culloden Battlefield.

The applications, which include a 13-lodge holiday and leisure centre, come in the wake of controversial plans being approved for 16 new homes at Viewhill Farm near to the battlefield.

The National Trust for Scotland is now calling on the Scottish Government to overhaul the planning system.

Simon Skinner, the charity’s chief executive, said previously raised fears regarding the protection of Scotland’s heritage were coming to pass.

"The specific development of the Viewhill Farm luxury houses at Culloden does not in itself fatally impinge on the battlefield but it sets a precedent from which other developers can argue for more portions of land to be given over to yet more housing," he said.

The four new applications are all located in the conservation area. In addition to converting an equestrian centre into a holiday complex, the others are for a farm house, a detached house and an agricultural shed.

"These may herald even more development in turn threatening to form a circle that, if unchecked, would eventually widen, join-up and constrict the core site protected by our charity," Mr Skinner said.

He also cited the recent approval of a golf course at the Coul Links which falls within the Loch Fleet site of scientific special interest.

He questioned whether either designation would still have any meaning if they were going to be run roughshod over by the current planning process.

"Culloden and the Coul Links are just two examples of a worrying trend," he said. "Scotland’s heritage is too often being cast aside for short-term economic gain.

"Four years ago, we argued for a planning framework which has the long-term wellbeing of our heritage sites built into it. That can only be achieved by overhauling the current diffuse focus on individual planning applications in isolation.

"Now is the time to make that change. The forthcoming Planning (Scotland) Bill is the point of no return for Scotland’s heritage. It could either prove to be the saviour of some of our most special places or the prelude to their irrecoverable loss."