THOUGH their project will almost certainly go ahead, a building company with plans to construct houses on land next to the main battlefield site at Culloden has been sent home to think again by councillors.

Kirkwood Homes wants to build 16 homes at Viewhill Farm, a location that is some 400 yards north of the main site of the battle in 1746 in which Prince Charles Edward Stuart and his Jacobite army were routed by a government army led by the Duke of Cumberland.

The Battle remains an emotive subject to this day as its aftermath saw the killing of prisoners by Cumberland’s troops and the brutal suppression of Highland culture and the clan system.

Viewhill undoubtedly saw some action on that fateful April day which ended the Jacobite uprisings once and for all, and protestors against the development claim it may be a war grave. The Viewhill site is within the boundary of the Culloden (Battlefield) Conservation Area and Historic Scotland’s Inventory of Historic Battlefields.

Some 75,000 people have signed an online petition against the development, many of them fans of the Outlander television drama which featured the Battle of Culloden in series three.

Highland Council refused the original application by another company when it came before them in 2011 but a Scottish Government-appointed independent Reporter overturned that decision on appeal.

The Reporter agreed with the then view of Historic Scotland, now Historic Environment Scotland, that the proposal would be unlikely to have any impact on the character and ambience of the battlefield.

Members of the Inverness South Planning Committee therefore had few options at yesterday’s meeting as they must comply with the principle of the Reporter’s decision.

They were able to defer the decision, however, to allow Kirkwood Homes to make adjustments to their plans to meet the Council’s requirements.

Kirkwood Homes pointed out before the meeting that the site was brownfield in that it had been previously occupied by farm buildings which have since been demolished.

A spokesman said: “Since announcing our proposed plans we have had very strong interest in the development and we look forward to releasing it for sale once official approval has been received.

“The new development will bring new employment opportunities to the area as well as more housing options to Inverness,” he added.

The Committee approved a motion by Councillor Andrew Jarvie and seconded by Councillor Carolyn Caddick, who are both Inverness South Ward members, to “defer the application for houses to give the developer an opportunity to revisit the finishes and the house designs to better reflect the Highland context and conservation area, in particular with regard to the use of external materials; proportions of the roofs to walls and external details.”

Highland Council stated: “Regarding the application for ‘Amendment to road layout and drainage infrastructure’ councillors agreed to approve and grant the application subject to a suspensive condition preventing commencement of the road works until planning permission for the housing design has been granted.

“Any future applications on the development proposal would come back to the Council’s South Planning Applications Committee for consideration.”

Protestors hope the delay will give them the chance to mount a major effort to force a change of mind by the Scottish Government Reporter.

Campaigner George Kempik said: “It’s a better result than we thought we would get when we came here today.

“I feel for the councillors because I know their hands are tied.

“Our focus will now shift to the Scottish Government to try to get them to intervene with a way to stop this development.

“We knew today was about the design rather than the houses themselves but that is not something we are willing to accept.

“This gives us more time to get the Reporter to look at it again and hopefully have the decision overturned.”