Plans to build a campsite north of Newtown, Invergarry, have sparked a row over reforestation in the area.
Archie Maclellan has applied for planning permission to create a campsite, shop and cafe in an area north of Invergarry.
The applicant hopes to provide services for 46 mobile campers, caravans, tents and pods alongside modern tourist facilities.
The plans also include a car park capable of holding 67 vehicles, with the whole site accessed from an existing track off the A82.
However, the application has attracted five local objections due to the loss of local woodlands. Interestingly, it has also divided opinion within Highland Council.
The council’s forestry officer has formally objected to the plan, while planners have recommended it for approval.
Greenfield or brownfield?
At the heart of the matter is the site itself. The former woodland was cleared to make way for the Beauly-Denny overhead electricity transmission line. Highland Council’s planning permission required the site to be replanted, but several years later this has still not taken place.
As a result, the council considers the former greenfield site to now be brownfield – and ripe for development.
Opponents argue the opposite, wanting to see the local biodiversity protected and the woodlands reinstated.
Highland Council’s forestry officer states that the Invergarry campsite would result in a “loss of significant woodland” with “scant replanting”. If the council grant permission, the officer fears the forest will be lost for good.
Council planners, on the other hand, say restoring the forest is “unreasonable and unnecessary”. They argue that a campsite will provide “high quality tourist development in a special setting”.
They also believe the trees and wildlife within the campsite could benefit from the development. Meanwhile, the surrounding woodland is not subject to any tree preservation orders and nor is it considered ancient or long-established.
Weighing up the evidence, planners have decided to support the application.
It will fall to councillors to make the final call when south planning committee meets on October.
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