A landowner has revealed plans to build affordable homes in Sutherland if the controversial Coul Links golf course is given the go-ahead.
Edward Abel Smith also wants to create three new crofts on farmland near the site.
He says the move will help stem the loss of working-age people from the area which is suffering depopulation.
The owner of Coul Farm has previously announced plans for an eco-hotel if the golf course is approved.
Ministers to decide on golf course plan
A planning application from Communities for Coul (C4C) for the 18-hole championship course was backed by Highland councillors in December.
But a final decision will be taken by ministers after the Scottish Government called in the plans.
A previous application, also backed by councillors, was refused four years ago.
Mr Abel Smith is discussing his plans for 30 homes, half of them affordable, with Highland Council and the Embo community.
He said: “The continuing loss of working-age population is the greatest problem facing East Sutherland.
“A chronic lack of both affordable housing and good employment opportunities is at the core of that growing crisis.
“Half of the new houses we are planning will be affordable homes.
“They will be sold with covenants to ensure they remain affordable in the long-term and are not turned into holiday lets.
Housing and golf course ‘could change area’s fortunes’
“Similarly, the new crofts will not have a right to buy, ensuring that they will continue to provide homes and land for crofters into the future.”
The landowner says the housing and hundreds of jobs predicted to be created at the golf course will help change the long-term fortunes of the area.
“That can only happen if Scottish Ministers decide, as The Highland Council has already twice done, to approve the development of a golf course at Coul Links.”
Leading economist Prof David Bell has previously said a new course would help stem an exodus of young people from the area’s ageing population.
The housing plans are welcomed by Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MP Jamie Stone.
He is among a cross-party group of politicians to support the Coul Links plans.
This includes the SNP’s Fergus Ewing, Labour MSP Rhoda Grant and Conservative MSPs Edward Mountain and Jamie Halcro Johnston.
Mr Stone said the Scottish Government’s Action Plan to Address Rural Depopulation highlighted the threat of losing working age populations in some areas.
“Nowhere is the issue more critical than in Caithness and Sutherland.
“And it is stacking up multiple problems for the future provision of vital services such as schools and healthcare for an area with an increasingly skewed demographic profile.
“Lack of affordable housing for young people and families is a key issue, so the plans for these new homes and crofts at Coul Farm are hugely welcome.”
More support, but opposition remains
Mr Stone said there is no “silver bullet solutions” to the depopulation crisis.
“So, when opportunities like the privately-funded and environmentally-sensitive Coul Links project emerge, you would think it would be utterly perverse of Scottish Ministers to block them.”
Last month, the golf course was also given the support of former finance secretary Kate Forbes and the Highland Tourism community interest company which promotes sustainable tourism.
However, it still faces opposition from a number of environmental organisations who say it would damage an internationally important wildlife site.
The Conservation Coalition, made up of seven environmental groups, says Coul Links is unique and irreplaceable and the wrong place to build a golf course.
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