Milton of Leys residents were horrified to learn last night of the council’s approval for Tulloch’s 100-home Bogbain Farmhouse Inshes plan, saying it would mean a bus route being bulldozed through the last remaining local green belt – and right beside an idyllic lochan.
One immediately called for a halt to all house construction in the area to allow the local authority some breathing space to reassess the school capacity crisis.
George Moodie, who lives in nearby Redwood Avenue, said: “There should be a pause on any future developments in the Milton of Leys area until the school roll issue is dealt with.
“The council lack credibility by approving these 100 homes – they’ve undone their own planning recommendation made two years ago.
“They’re putting a bus route right through a green wedge. The whole purpose of the green wedge was to have a barrier between any proposed development and the existing residents.
“That was subsequently supported by a Scottish Government reporter and endorsed in the Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan.
“If the developer says it’s the only access route then surely that’s down to their poor planning to have no alternative.”
No-one from Tulloch was available for comment.
Planning officer Keith Gibson told south committee members, meeting in Inverness, that under the local plan the development exceeded the allocation by 25 homes but that was “seen as indicative only and can be increased where there’s an efficient use of land, also there is satisfactory layout, no adverse impact on habitat, species or existing infrastructure.”
He added that the development would “provide the required level of open space” and “improve connectivity between this and adjoining sites, with the Milton of Leys neighbourhood centre and the primary school.”