Major new development for Muir of Ord
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PLANNING permission has been granted in principle for a massive mixed-use development in Muir of Ord.
Developers will build 60 homes with shops, offices and a garden centre on a 24-acre site almost 500ft from the Wyndhill Industrial Estate.
An indicative masterplan shows the development will be served with a single access road. A footpath and cycle lane will run the full length of its boundary with the A862.
Dorothy Stott, Highland Council’s principal planning officer for the north, told members of the north planning applications committee on Tuesday the garden centre, some retail units, all footpaths and links, and a small number of houses, would form phase one of the development.
The remaining retail units would be built in phase two and the rest of the homes built in phase three. The scheme will take several years to build and some of the homes would go up around the Windhill Standing Stone.
Ms Stott said the developer intended to leave an open area of ground around the scheduled monument as a protection zone. But she said landscaping would need to be carried out under Historic Scotland’s instruction to make sure the measures did not affect the structure.
The council received two objections over fears the large-scale development would make existing problems at the junction at Windhill Road worse and it would be harder for pedestrians, particularly children, to cross the busy A862.
But Ms Stott said the area’s 40mph speed limit would be extended beyond the site’s access road and the footpath and cycle lane running the full length of the development’s boundary with the main road would make it easier for pedestrians.
An overhead power line on the site will be re-rooted or placed underground.
Local councillor Angela MacLean (Dingwall and Seaforth) welcomed the plans.
She said: "I think it’s something that the community wants to happen. Affordable housing is needed and it’s one of the few areas of land that has not been developed so it’s good to see it coming forward."
