Councillors will this week decide whether one of Scotland’s top businesswomen can build a holiday home near Beauly.
Transport tycoon Ann Gloag has appealed the local authority’s initial rejection of her proposal to build another property on an estate she owns at Kiltarlity.
The application will now be considered by the planning review body on Thursday.
Mrs Gloag, co-founder of transport firm Stagecoach, hopes to build a three-bedroom holiday lodge on land within the Beaufort Castle Estate.
But her plans were rejected last July by a council officer on the grounds it would be “contrary to the provisions of the Highland-wide local development plan” relating to housing in the countryside.
The council concluded that she had failed to demonstrate the “requirement” for the house on the basis of it “being essential in association with an existing rural business.”
However, Mrs Gloag’s planning team argue the proposed holiday accommodation accord with the development plan.
An agent for Mrs Gloag has stated in a response that “a new-build holiday cottage is essential to respond to changing market conditions, operational costs and investment plans impacting on the growth of the Beaufort Lodges business.”
They argue the proposed cottage would not adversely impact the local environment or local amenity.
If planning permission is granted, it is understood Mrs Gloag would accept an occupancy restriction limiting the use of the property for holiday accommodation only and that the proposed cottage “meets an identified need.”
The application site is a quarter of an acre and comprises garden ground at the entrance to four existing properties, country homes known as Beaufort Farm Cottages.
Mrs Gloag, who has provided a business plan to councillors as part of her submission, could not be contacted for comment over the weekend.