Angry villagers will protest against plans for a controversial housing development in a village in the middle of the Cairngorms National Park next week.
Residents of Carrbridge will be out in force to voice their concerns about plans by Inverness-based developer Tulloch Homes for 72 houses opposite Carr Place.
Local residents have raised fears about potential road safety concerns on the narrow Carr Road, which would be used to access the Carr Place site, and the number of houses on the site.
The developer has also applied to build affordable homes at Crannich Park and Rowan Park in the village, bring the size of the total development to 96.
Last night the Cairngorm National Park Authority (CNPA) revealed that their planning officials were recommending all three housing plans be refused when it goes to committee next week.
Members of the planning committee will visit the site in the morning ahead of their meeting in Boat of Garten.
A peaceful protest will be held during the visit, organised by Carr Place resident Lisa McInnes.
She said: “Carr Road is really not safe at present and would not be suitable for that number of homes.
“All the children and their parents use it for going to school, even though there’s no pavements.
“There’s just about enough room for two cars to pass each other and there isn’t enough space for that if there’s pedestrians.
“We just want to make our point on Friday and let them know what we think.”
Carrbridge Community Council led objections to the plans.
The site has a complicated recent planning history. It was zoned for housing under new local development plan, but a Scottish Government reporter recommended cutting the size of the area by two-thirds, omitting the woodland.
However, this decision has now been overturned by government ministers as part of finalising the masterplan, and the woodland is included.
Andrew Kirk, chairman of Carrbridge Community Council, said: “We’re not against houses per se but we are against this development because of its scale.”
He said that the reporter’s proposal of cutting the development area to just the grassland – known locally as the boys brigade field – would have been a “reasonable compromise”.
He added: “It’s concerning that even though the reporter took into account all of the views from all sides and came back with a suggestion, the Scottish Government are able to just discard that.”
Other objectors include the Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group, who claim a colony of rare narrow-headed ants and a number of other species would be impacted.