Black Isle residents are expected to vent their frustrations with the local authority’s planning department at a specially-arranged summit next week.
Fortrose and Rosemarkie Community Council will host the public meeting – entitled “Planning and Democracy” – on Tuesday at 7pm in the Fortrose Community Theatre.
Concerns have been raised about the pace of house building in the area, amid claims that the existing infrastructure is struggling to cope.
Work is well under way on a housing development in the Ness Gap site at Fortrose, which in the Inner Moray Firth Local Development plan was scheduled for 80 houses but could reach 157 by completion.
Plans were also recently lodged for a new 50-home development at Greenside Farm, Rosemarkie, with a decision from the planning committee expected in mid-December.
Transport Scotland recommended that the Highland Council should reject these plans, intimating that more traffic using the right-turning Munlochy junction off the A9 Inverness-Thurso dual carriageway stretch would create a safety issue, with more vehicles encroaching the fast lane.
The community council has also raised concerns that the road network in the area of the A832 Tore-Cromarty road corridor is already dangerously overloaded.
Community Council member Tom Heath said: “Our biggest concern is that the development of infrastructure seems to be out of pace with the rise of housing in the area. The community is not against development per se, but against development without the infrastructure improvements required by the development plan.”
Tuesday’s meeting will start with a 20 to 30-minute presentation reviewing the major planning decisions which have been granted and those which are forthcoming.
Members of the community will be asked whether they feel the development plan serves the long term needs of communities first, whether there should be anymore development until infrastructure is improved, and whether the green space between Fortrose and Rosemarkie should be kept sacrosanct.
A Highland Council spokeswoman said: “Our area planning manager and principal planner are attending the meeting. There is some concern about a couple of current applications namely a care home which encroaches onto the gap between Fortrose and Rosemarkie, although this is not supported by the development plan, and land west of Rosemarkie at Greenside which is an allocated site but the application seeks slightly larger area.”
Black Isle councillor Isobel McCallum, chairwoman of the North Planning Applications Committee, said she would not be attending, adding: “It is a meeting that councillors have to consider very carefully if they are on the planning committee.
“We are aware of the issues because we get e-mails and I read all of mine.
“It’s a public meeting which can often be heated and emotional and I sympathise with both sides.”