The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) has announced it will oppose plans for a holiday complex at one of the Scotland’s most historical sites.
Fresh plans for the development, near Culloden Moor, appeared back before Highland Council this month, a year after they were refused.
Inverness Paving wants to build a four-star, £1 million holiday village with 13 lodges, a 100-seat restaurant and café and shop at the former TreeTop riding centre in Faebuie, a mile-and-a-half from the site.
Now NTS, which owns a part of the Culloden Battlefield near to the development site, has raised its voice to support objectors.
The Trust says the battlefield is “sacred to many people” as the place where in 1746 the Jacobite rising led by Prince Charles Edward Stuart was crushed by government troops in the last pitched battle fought on British soil.
Clea Warner, the National Trust for Scotland’s general manager for the Highlands and Islands said: “I can see nothing especially ‘new’ about this new submission.
“The previous application was turned down by Highland Council because it wasn’t sufficiently sensitive to the surrounding woodland, and undermined the conservation area.
“While the 2020 application appears to suggest additional landscaping, quite frankly I can’t otherwise see much difference from the preceding 2018 submission.”
The last set of proposals were refused by the council on the grounds that it would not ‘preserve, enhance or develop’ the wooded site, citing both the Highland-wide development plan and the Culloden Muir conservation area.
At the time there were 87 objections to the development, including those from historical societies and organisations.
Mrs Warner added: “To be clear, we do not object to every planning application that comes forward around Culloden.
“Where changes to existing buildings or land do not result in a visual impact, change of use or materially extend the “footprint”, we tend not to have concerns.
#OnThisDay in 1746, a battle took place on Drumossie Moor that would echo around the world ⚔️🛡 Watch our powerful Culloden anniversary video ➡️https://t.co/feJPqX5Na1#ForTheLoveOfScotland pic.twitter.com/7AhM4Az3Sj
— National Trust for Scotland (@N_T_S) April 16, 2020
“Unfortunately, in this case, from what we have seen, our objection would be fully justified.”
