Developers whose commitment to expanding Elgin was thrown into question when a major roads project was scrapped say they remain dedicated to creating new homes in the town.
When Moray Council voted to abandon the controversial £11.8million Western Link Road scheme last month, they were warned it could deter house-builders from continuing with their plans for Elgin.
They were also cautioned that the cash-strapped authority could have to return more than £3million to developers who had purchased land on the proviso that the road would be built.
Yesterday, however, it emerged that Grampian Housing aimed to pursue plans to site an affordable housing development on land next to where the route would have gone.
The firm’s director of business development, Craig Stirrat, said: “It is too early to write off the housing development, we are still committed to it, and are in discussions with Moray Council.”
The council’s SNP opposition group had accused administration leaders of being alarmist by raising fears about compensation claims arising from the Western Link Road being scrapped.
Group leader Gary Coull said: “It is long past time for Moray Council’s administration to deal in facts rather than scaremongering and wild speculation.”
He added that it was “entirely possible” to make the land lucrative to developers without the disputed roads scheme in play.
Moray Council’s plan to create a Western Link Road by building a railway crossing between Edgar Road and Wittet Drive had caused unrest for several years.
Residents along the affected streets said the route would endanger children travelling to school and generate an unwelcome degree of noise and pollution in residential areas.
At a recent meeting, councillors voted 13-11 in favour of removing it from the capital plan after learning that spending had to be drastically reduced.