A HISTORIAN has branded plans to erect a horse track on the Bannockburn battlefield as “stunningly inappropriate” as he argued the proposal breaches a key planning regulation.
The Scottish Government has called in plans which were approved by Stirling Council last month for harness racing track on the site of the 1314 conflict.
A letter published on the Government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division website said ministers noted concerns around the "potential impact on [a] designated battlefield of national significance".
The proposals, lodged by Mr H Muirhead of the Scottish Harness Racing Club, include the creation of a trotting track surface and a single storey building that would house toilets, a bar and provide hot takeaway food.
The site is around 8.7 hectares in size – about 14 football fields – and is currently green field agricultural land.
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The plans were met with a huge backlash from concerned residents and the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) which runs the nearby Battle of Bannockburn visitor centre.
Historian Murray Pittock, based at the University of Glasgow, has now told The National he believes the plans breach National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), which states that development proposals affecting a nationally important historic battlefield will only be supported where they protect and, where appropriate, enhance their cultural significance.
Highlighting that Bannockburn is the third most visited battlefield in the UK after Culloden and Hastings, Pittock said it was “remarkable” it has come under threat.
“It’s stunningly inappropriate because the northern boundary of the horse racing track at Fairfield Road can only be about 150m from the visitor centre itself. It’s extremely close and intrusive,” he said.
“This is the third most visited battle site in the UK and last year had in the region of 90,000 visitors.
“It’s a huge part of Stirling’s image and history because there’s a connectivity between the Wallace Monument and Bannockburn and the statues of Bruce and Wallace at the castle, so it’s an essential heritage site and it’s remarkable that the council has done this.
“There is an expectation in NPF4 that such a battlefield will only be developed in a way which is sympathetic and complementary, but this is neither.
“It is one of the most significant battles that has ever happened in Scotland it was absolutely significant for the development of modern Scotland, so it is very curious to see a situation where a battle which is seen as so central, and is central to British and overseas visitors, is under threat in this way.”
Pittock highlighted how the Culloden battlefield had also come under threat from development last year.
Scottish ministers overturned a decision by Highland Council to allow a new farmhouse to be built near the Culloden battlefield after the decision was called-in due to “potential impact on a historic battlefield of national significance” – the same reason the Bannockburn plans were halted.
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The planned farmhouse lay within the "greater battlefield site" beyond the NTS-run area, making it a similar situation to that at Bannockburn.
Although the fields marked for the Bannockburn development do not fall within the land owned and cared for by NTS, they are within the known boundaries of the 1314 conflict and the organisation has described the fields as “integral” to the experience of visitors who come to learn about the battle.
Archaeologist and TV presenter Tony Pollard says that the fields host the positions taken by the Scottish army at the opening of the battle on 23 June 1314 and may also be the location where, famously, King Robert the Bruce defeated English knight Henry de Bohun in single combat.
A Change.org petition against the development has now garnered more than 3200 signatures.
Stirling Council has been approached for comment.
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