Highland Council planners 'disappointed' after Easter Ross firm had to seek retrospective planning permission three times in 2019
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AN EASTER Ross oil firm has been rapped by planners after it built three new structures at its Evanton site in 2019 without planning permission.
TechnipFMC was retrospectively awarded planning permission for a small store at their spoolbase facility and said pressure of work during the year led to them to requiring to make changes fast.
Highland Council’s planning department said of the latest retrospective application: “The development is seen in the context of the large existing industrial site, well distanced from any neighbouring houses and at a lower level than the A9 trunk road. The relatively small structure has made no material change to the visual impact of the overall development, in an allocated industrial site which is self contained and separated from the village of Evanton by the trunk road and open fields.”
The planning statement added however: “It is disappointing that this is the third retrospective planning application submitted by the same applicants this year (2019). In addition, the applicant was asked whether a more recessive colour of canvas cladding could be investigated, however there was no co-operation to achieve this, rather it was pointed out that there are other light coloured buildings within the Deephaven industrial estate.”
The planning permission was granted with the planners conceding: “Given the relatively modest scale of the building, its distance from the public domain and its relationship with the large scale structures at the spoolbase, whilst it would be improved by being finished in a more muted dark green or grey, it is not considered reasonable to refuse the development on this basis.
Accordingly, on balance it is considered that the application is acceptable in this context.”
The latest application is a store for machinery, plant and tools.
The structure is of lightweight steel frame construction with white canvas cladding and is designed as to allow it to be re-assembled and re-erected easily on other parts of the site, if necessary in the future. The structure measures 30m x 15m x 5.6m high.
A spokesman for TechnipFMC said: “Whilst the company aims to seek planning permission in advance – adhering to council procedures – the base experienced increased levels of activity in 2019, resulting in ad hoc changes being required.
“TechnipFMC worked proactively with the relevant local authorities to obtain the necessary consent.”
Councillor Maxine Smith, Cromarty Firth member and chairwoman of the north planning applications committee said: “We do encourage firms to build with planning permission in place. It makes sense especially since firms will have wasted a lot of money if permission is refused.”
