On 24th June Stirling Council announced that they have received the signed Section 75 agreement from the applicant in relation to the Park of Keir Development.
For background to this planning application the 2015 proposal and all associated documents are available via the Stirling Council Planning Portal, including an objection on behalf of the Community Council. The application for a tennis and golf center, sports pitches and housing on the Greenbelt between Bridge of Allan and Dunblane was refused by the Council. The applicant appealed. In December 2016 a reporter appointed by the Scottish Government to review the appeal recommended that the appeal be dismissed and permission refused for the development. See the full report here.
However in 2017 Scottish Ministers decided in favour of the development and issued a Notice of Intention to approve the development subject to conditions. See this letter for details of the conditions requested and reasons for the conditions being placed.
Numerous extensions were granted to the applicant to consider and accept the conditions with a deadline of June 30th to agree to the terms. Negotiations have taken place between Stirling Council and the applicant and it is not clear what the final conditions that have been agreed are.
Bridge of Allan Community Council, Dunblane Community Council and Residents Against Greenbelt Erosion are calling for transparency, to be able to see the agreement and observe the forthcoming discussion. Dunblane Community Council have written to Stirling Council and we support their comments. We are concerned that the conditions have been watered down against the interests of the community, and that the proposed development has altered from the original application.
Our local MSPs Mark Ruskell and Alexander Stewart have spoken out about the development, asking for the proposal to be rejected (Stirling Observer 24.06.2021). Through the support of our local Councilors we have requested that the documents be made public to allow for public scrutiny and that the planning discussion, due to be held on 3rd August, also be held in a public forum. However due to past experience we do not hold out much hope. Contact your local representatives to let them know your views.
Thank you for this very clear outline of the issue. Members of Residents Against Greenbelt Erosion are very concerned that the “revised”plan is much diluted due to their financial constraints. If there are significant changes to what was promised, then it no longer meets their claim of being of national importance. We are also concerned that the conditions may be diluted so it is useful that you have a link to the original Notice of Intention letter with the Annex of Conditions. We expect Stirling Council to insist that all these conditions are met in full. If the developer cannot agree to this then the plan should be rejected. He is free to submit an alternative plan that will work financially. We cannot allow a watered down sports facility of little benefit to the community to be used as justification for building houses on the greenbelt.
Completely agree 100% Inga! I’m fed up seeing financially driven projects that very few actually benefit from yet their impact has little or no benefit at all for the many that they both directly & indirectly affect. It so often seems that the rules can be bent or somehow conveniently over looked when financial gain is at stake.