THE National Trust for Scotland has vowed to fight a new plan to build holiday lodges on Culloden Moor.
The trust opposed a bid to develop TreeTop Stables at Faebuie when a planning application was submitted in May 2018. The application was subsequently refused by Highland Council.
Now a fresh proposal has been lodged for the construction of holiday, leisure and hospitality facilities at the site. The trust owns a key part of the Culloden battlefield but not the land where the stables sit.
However, the charity has raised its voice in the past against developments which it believed threatened the integrity of the wider site, with the 1746 battle waged over a large area.
Highland Council gave the wider site conservation area status after its refusal of planning permission for a luxury housing development at nearby Viewhill Farm was overturned.
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Clea Warner, National Trust for Scotland (NTS) general manager for the Highlands and Islands, said: “I can see nothing especially ‘new’ about this new submission.
“The previous application was turned down by Highland Council because it wasn’t sufficiently sensitive to the surrounding woodland and undermined the conservation area.
“While the 2020 application appears to suggest additional landscaping, quite frankly I can’t otherwise see much difference.
“The application mentions that about 13 accommodation units would be built, but references 16 elsewhere. These lodges would be raised up on stilts, close to two storeys in height, with each appearing to be about the size of a static caravan.
“Our 2018 objection was based on four main issues, including a possible precedent encouraging more developers to try their luck. Nothing in this fresh application alleviates any of these concerns.
“We do not object to every planning application that comes forward around Culloden but in this case, from what we have seen, our objection would be fully justified.”
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