An expanding Perthshire town looks set to grow again with contentious plans for scores of new houses.
Stewart Milne Homes has tabled proposals for 71 properties on the south-western edge of Blairgowrie.
The Moyness Park project comes just days after plans emerged for 400 houses and a supermarket at Westpark, near the town’s cottage hospital.
Plans for 42 homes were approved at Moyness, off Blackthorn Road, more than a decade ago.
But only seven properties were built before the downturn in the housing sector.
Aberdeen-based Stewart Milne believes its new plan will help address a local demand for affordable housing.
The scheme is already facing a backlash from locals who believe the estate will create a traffic hazard for schoolchildren going to and from lessons at the nearby community campus.
Blairgowrie community council has stopped short of objecting to the plan, but has urged developers to address parking problems along Smithfield Crescent, particularly during the start and end of the school day.
A spokesman for Stewart Milne said: “Following discussions with Perth and Kinross Council, the urgent need for affordable homes in the area was highlighted and we have redesigned the development with a mixture of one to four-bedroom affordable homes in order to help address this severe shortfall.”
He said that traffic calming measures – speed tables at key crossing points – would be used to slow down motorists.
“Pedestrian routes through the development provide links from the site and surrounding residential developments to the Blairgowrie Community Campus and surrounding area,” the spokesman added. “These well situated routes will also provide a safer and more convenient route for parents and children going to the school within the Community Campus.”
So far, the scheme has attracted eight objections from residents.
In his letter, Dr Rowan Reffold said the scheme would have a “detrimental impact” on the area.
“The existing volume of traffic at school times is already at a level that I feel is unsafe,” he said. “I often have great difficulty crossing the road and there already are numbers of cars illegally parked and driving to and from the school in a dangerous fashion.”
Residents have also argued that the design of the planned houses is out of character with the area.
The Westpark plans ran into trouble just days after they were lodged.
The council has taken the unusual step of halting the bid, saying that developers breached regulations by not submitting a full environmental assessment.
The Edinburgh-based Westpark Partnership has now been given four weeks to put together a report, or face having its project automatically rejected.
