Highland Council approves planning in principle for 104 homes at Muir of Ord; proposal moves onto next stage of planning process
A MAJOR new housing estate in Muir of Ord has moved a step closer after the project was granted planning permission in principle – meaning the developers will have to meet a number of stringent conditions to continue.
Highland Council’s north planning applications committee decided to move the plans for 104 new homes forward to the next stage despite a number of local objections including from the community council.
It is the latest iteration of a plan by developer the Mackay, Robertson and Fraser Partnership that has been in the works for more than a decade and has yet to emerge as a full application due to a variety of concerns locally and within the council.
It was most recently dismissed in 2017 when the community council voiced concerns about foot path access from the site at Lochan Corr on the Black Isle Road into Muir of Ord while others were worried about the impact on traffic.
The application is to build 104 residential units, open space, supporting roads and drainage over six phases with the first comprising 40 affordable homes – 15 one or two bedroomed homes targeted toward older people.
The site is on agricultural land on the right of the busy A832 Black Isle Road on the way out of Muir of Ord after the Lilyloch housing scheme but as the developers try to resolve issues of connecting foot traffic with the burgeoning village – a major point of contention in earlier applications – other issues arise.
The Muir of Ord community council noted that the Black Isle Road is “inadequate” for the size of the development and efforts to widen the footpath leading to the centre of the village mean a narrowing of the road.
That is considered inappropriate and will increase the chance of vehicles mounting the footpath to pass in an area where there are access points to the health centre and the primary school with young children, parents and many with prams or pushchairs.
The annual Black Isle Show leads to all routes in and out of the village seeing a vast increase in traffic and a smaller road comes with an increased threat to all users.
There are also issues around local school capacity with the council predicting Tarradale Primary school roll figures predicted to rise more than 90 per cent capacity in next year and continue to rise.
That means with so-called modular or portacabin classrooms already in place to relieve demand a major extension or a new school would be required at some point in the next six years – almost the same amount of time it would take to complete the housing development.
The local councillors Margaret Davidson and Angela MacLean reluctantly agreed to the plan because at this stage in the planning no technical reason for refusal could be considered competent.
Cllr MacLean said: “I don’t think we could put an amendment forward, we have raised our concerns and those concerns haven’t gone away but there has been a lot of work on the development and I have not got a reason to refuse the application.”
Cllr Patterson agreed, saying: “Even though I am not happy with the junction I have listened and hopefully in the future something will be done – still not 100 per cent.
“Muir of Ord is now the size of a small town and it used to be just a small compact village so the public are concerned that the village doesn’t have enough services for the size it has become.”