A north housing association has won permission to build 12 new flats in the centre of a Highland town.
A Scottish Government reporter has overturned Highland Council’s decision to refuse the scheme, which will now be built in Kyle of Lochalsh.
The Lochalsh and Skye Housing Association are behind the plans to build the 12 new flats and three shops on the corner of Main Street and Station Road in the the town.
The new development will involve the demolition of the long-closed Mace Shop on the site – an area described by the reporter as currently “blighted by dereliction”
Parking will be provided by reconfiguring the current car park at Lochalsh Leisure Centre to create extra parking spaces.
Highland Council’s north planning committee objected to the scheme in October last year, with councillors raising concerns about the “scale and massing” of the proposed building which they said would represent “over-development”.
The housing association appealed the decision to the government’s Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals, with reporter Frances McChlery publishing her findings yesterday.
She visited the site in early February and said the location was a “prominent” location within the traditional centre of the village, which would be the first prominent building when approaching from the Skye Bridge.
Ms McChlery said the flats would be “a substantial new and to some extent contrasting element into the street-scape of the village” but added that it would fit with the “existing character” of the street.
She found that the building would not be “disproportionate or discordant” to the street.
She said: “This is a prominent site at an entry point to the village, presently blighted by dereliction.
“In its present state it significantly detracts from the otherwise attractive appearance of the settlement. It would be of significant benefit to the visual appearance of the village to have the site redeveloped.”
Lachie MacDonald, chief executive of Lochalsh and Skye Housing Association said he hoped that construction work could start by early summer, with the flats available about 12 months later.
He added: “We’re delighted with the outcome of the appeal. We have read through the decision notice and the reporter’s points tie up with the points made by the council’s own planners when they recommended approval in the first place.”
