Plans for up to 70 affordable homes on a former Lochaber school site have been changed halfway through a public exhibition due to the strength of local feeling against the layout.
The number of properties built on the land currently occupied by the old Lochyside RC Primary School has also been reduced and is now not expected to exceed 60.
People living close to the site were concerned that the initial drawings showed the loss of a play park on Castle Drive and a bus stop on Kilmallie Road.
They also feared the proposed secondary access for the joint Highland Council and Lochaber Housing Association (LHA) scheme through Castle Drive could create a rat run.
The plans have been on display at Caol Community Centre since Monday September 26 and the exhibition was due to finish on Friday.
However, following a well attended drop-in session in the old school at the end of last week, they have been redrawn to resolve the issues highlighted.
And the new plans will be on show from today until Friday October 14.
Councillor Ben Thompson, Caol and Mallaig, said: “There were three main reasons people were complaining and these have been addressed.
“It was great to see a good attendance at the drop-in session.
“People were able to put their opinions across and I’m glad that it appears that the architect and developers are responding to the public feedback.”
A Highland Council spokeswoman said the revised plan included the retention of the existing play area with a proposed new play area next to it.
She added that the secondary one way exit was no longer shown as through Castle Drive and a proposed new location for the bus stop had been included, subject to necessary consents.
LHA chief executive Blair Allan said these changes would mean sacrificing “a couple of houses”, adding that they had been looking at 60-70 homes, which had been revised to “up to 60”.
He said: “The reason we agreed to make the changes at this stage is that we didn’t get 101 different view, we got a lot of views basically saying the same thing.
“It would have been quite difficult to ignore them.”
He added that the development was still at the pre-application stage and there would be further consultation during the planning process.
