Councillors will be told demolition of existing buildings on site would have positive impact on landscape
Council planners back proposal for 12 homes at derelict piggery
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Councillors are expected to approve plans to turn a derelict Aberdeenshire piggery into houses.
A plea to demolish the buildings at Laurencekirk and erect 12 houses and seven business units will go before councillors this week.
The application, by Simon Laird of Angus Estates in East Memus, has been recommended for approval by council planners.
A 2007 application, for 15 houses and five business spaces on the land at Dowrieburn, was rejected because it contravened the council’s planning policy on building in the countryside.
Planners have acknowledged that the latest application also breaks planning rules, but say there are other “material” reasons for approving it.
Mr Laird has proved there is no alternative business space in the area around Laurencekirk, according to senior planner Neil Stewart.
And planners have accepted his claim that it would be “unviable” and too costly to return the site to use as a piggery or farmland.
Five of the proposed homes are designed with integral studio space and each of the others will be sold with a business unit.
Remedial work is to be carried out to tackle any contamination on the site before the houses are erected.
Mr Stewart says the removal of “highly visible and derelict structures” on the site would have a positive impact on the surrounding landscape.
The council has received seven letters from local residents, four objecting and three in support.
Objectors are worried about the potential impact on the local roads and say the scale of development is “excessive” and “disproportionate” to the former business.
Supporters say the old piggery building is a blot on the landscape and its removal is welcomed.
The application will be considered at a meeting of the infrastructure services committee on Thursday.
Councillors are recommended to back the proposal and delegate final approval to the planning department.
