Highland Council planning committee approves plans for 140 homes in Evanton, Ross-shire
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PLANS that would lead to a significant increase in the population of an Easter Ross village have been passed unanimously by Highland Council despite a number of reservations.
Proposals by Highland Housing Alliance for the construction of 140 homes in Evanton over seven phases were to have been considered by councillors earlier this month at the north planning applications committee.
Among the areas of concern was the ownership of the land and who would actually build the homes.
Local member Mike Finlayson said the development would be good for Evanton but there would be outstanding issues regarding the impact of the housing on the local area such as on traffic and additional costs to the council.
“I am deeply concerned about the ongoing costs to the Highland Council because we are in such a dire state financially at the moment,” he said. “To find added costs to pay for some of the things that are proposed here is unwelcome.
“I would like clarification about who would pay for the raised beds and other things like that but before I come to that the overall scheme is very attractive, I must say, and it would really help Evanton a lot because it is such an attractive place to come and stay.
“But, as I mentioned, who is going to pay for the traffic calming in Evanton because we were trying to for years and years – it must be 15 years – to get something done and now we are in an even more dire situation.”
The green spaces and the traffic calming measures would be provided by the applicant.
Despite the planning proposal following an extensive public consultation over the bid for a site encompassing two fields at the end of Thomas Maciver Street it did not emerge that the council was the landowner.
Cllr Kirsteen Currie complained about the clarity of the papers saying: “The application documents suggest that there is no relation to any Highland councillor and one of the directors of the Highland Housing Alliance is a Highland councillor and that was not mentioned, so I am concerned about.
“I didn’t realise that this was a Highland Council owned piece of land so we are essentially the applicant and the owner of the land and we need to make that clear.
“I am sorry but I am getting really irritated by applications coming in and it is not made clear who the owners are and who is going to be building the homes.
"I am very disappointed that the Highland Housing Alliance did not make clear that they had a member of the administration of the Highland Council as a director.”
Developer contributions will be required for a two-classroom extension to Kiltearn Primary as the new homes as they would push the school role up.
There will be additional sums for active travel, green infrastructure, public art and £1019 per unit for community facilities each for the Averon Leisure Centre and the Evanton Sports Centre.
