The first stage of one of Perthshire’s most significant housing developments for the next three decades will be revealed to councillors this month.
For more than 20 years it has been the vision of GS Brown Construction chairman Geoff Brown to see the site of the former Bridge of Earn Hospital transformed into a 1,500 home development.
He has ploughed millions of pounds into infrastructure development for the Oudenarde village project but only 112 housing association homes have been built.
Mr Brown revealed at the end of last year the St Madoes-based housebuilder had teamed up with national developer Taylor Wimpey to draw up a planning application for 159 two, three and four-bedroom homes.
That plan will be put to the planning and development control committee on Wednesday, October 18 and the recommendation from council officials is that it be approved.
A report to councillors says that the application provides “a good mixture of open market housing to a wide variety of potential purchasers”.
The design has been drawn up to encourage walking and cycling to link to the wider area.
It is noted that the building of the houses will have a significant impact on the local economy, during construction and in the future.
“According to Homes for Scotland, the development of 159 dwellings is predicted to provide 652 jobs (construction and afterwards) and this will impact on the level of indirect jobs that the construction activity and home owners will generate from spending on local goods and services,”says Anne Condliffe, interim development quality manager.
“Once operational it is predicted that new residents should help fill job vacancies and support numerous existing employers in the local area.”
She also predicts that once the houses are occupied the residents will be spending nearly £330,000 per annum on goods locally, making a “significant positive impact on the local area”.
Approval of the houses would be subject to a number of conditions including restricting hours of construction to 7am to 7pm, Monday to Friday, 8am to 1pm on Saturdays with no working on Sundays.
