A handful of hardy campaigners braved the rain yesterday to continue their fight to stop Culloden Battlefield being “enclosed in concrete”.
History enthusiasts are protesting against plans to build 16 homes within 400 yards of the site of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s defeat in 1746.
Highland Council rejected the housing scheme, but a government planning reporter overturned the decision, agreeing with Historic Scotland’s assessment that the development was unlikely to have significant impact on the character or atmosphere of the battlefield.
A small group of campaigners manned positions around the Scottish Parliament yesterday in an attempt to get MSPs involved. Now that the housing scheme has officially been given planning permission, they claim ministers have six weeks to decide whether to “call in” the reporter’s decision.
George Kempik, organiser of the Holyrood demonstration, said: “We want to raise awareness with MSPs and make sure they know they are in a position to overturn the reporter’s decision.
“Up until now every single one of them has been very quiet.”
The campaigners said there were now plans for a road about 200 yards from the battlefield and for three houses outside the gates.
“We are trying to stop the rot and the battlefield being enclosed by concrete,” Mr Kempik said.
Dave Tomlie said what was happening at Culloden had implications for other historic battlefields across Scotland.
“Do we wait until the whole of the battlefield is surrounded by these new houses and we have another Bannockburn on our hands?” he said.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said the reporter’s decision was final and the only recourse now was to appeal to the Court of Session, which must be done within six weeks.