Scottish Ministers have refused an appeal over a new housing scheme on the outskirts of an Angus village.
Persimmon Homes asked Angus Council to green-light 46 homes on the western outskirts of Carnoustie, next to the village of Barry.
But the plans were blocked by councillors following representations to the council in June, leading to the housebuilder lodging an appeal with the Scottish Government’s planning and environmental appeals division.
A reporter has now refused the appeal, acknowledging that housing could be built on the site — but this would have to be on a smaller scale.
John Martin told Persimmon: “Residential development would be acceptable on the appeal site.
“However, this will only be possible once a more sympathetic scheme has been submitted that recognises the rural character of Barry Village and its relationship with the surrounding countryside, which I find has not been demonstrated with the appeal proposals.
“I therefore find that there are no material considerations of sufficient substance to outweigh my reservations over the appeal proposals.”
A string of representations on issues including flooding risk, road and pedestrian safety and the scale of the development led to an eight votes to three refusal of the controversial proposal.
Speaking on behalf of several nearby residents, objector Hugh McKenzie told the Forfar committee the development could bring over 90 additional vehicles and almost 70 children to the village and he claimed the official report revealed a “lack of thought” in terms of roads consideration.
He also aired fears that the 46-house scheme was just the first phase of a plan that would be followed by another application for 40-plus homes.
Persimmon Homes spokesman Ryan Barker told councillors: “At present we are looking to make an application for this land. In terms of future opportunities there may be areas we look to make applications on, but at this time this is the only area that we are looking to make application for.
“It is compliant with design guidance and local policy — it’s a brownfield site and is allocated as a residential opportunity site,” he said.
Fourteen letters of representation were received, all of which offered objection to the proposal.
