New plan to guard Highland battlefield from developers
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PLANS have been drawn up to protect a huge area of a historic Highland site from the clutches of developers.
The proposals are intended to respect the integrity of Culloden Battlefield, outside Inverness, where hundreds lost their lives in the last and bloodiest of the Jacobite confrontations in 1746.
House building would effectively be banned and existing homeowners may need planning permission to put up a simple satellite dish, alter doors or windows, or erect a boundary fence if the proposals win outline approval next week.
The details being presented to the City of Inverness Area Committee on Thursday show a significantly larger conservation area boundary drawn around the historic site than the current conservation zone.
The new proposed conservation zone encompasses a circular area which includes major housing developments Brookfield and Sunnyside.
Within that area there would be a presumption against development, making it much harder for builders to obtain planning permission.
Inverness South ward councillor Ken Gowans, who was at the forefront of the conservation boundary widening work, said the new line, if approved, was "a milestone".
"I’ve been interested in this battlefield since I was a kid so for me being able to give it some protection is personally very gratifying but for the whole nation it is such an important piece of work," he said.
"This meeting on Thursday in my view allows the council to do the right thing and it is a huge step forward to protect the battlefield for future generations."
News of the plan has emerged as the row continues over the granting of consent for 16 new homes at Viewhill Farm, Balloch, 400 metres from the battlefield and within Historic Scotland’s battlefield inventory zone. Councillors rejected the application by Inverness Properties but the decision was overturned on appeal by a Scottish government reporter last year prompting a 3000-signature petition, an international campaign and a Holyrood protest.
George Kempik, founder of the Stop the Development at Culloden group, yesterday welcomed the proposals to widen the conservation zone around the battlefield.
He said: "I don’t think it’s going to do our battle regarding Viewhill Farm any particular benefit at all but clearly it’s a good thing because if it gets approved it’s going to make it a lot more difficult for anything like that to happen again."
