Application 16/04486/FUL  is for the erection of three warehouse/office buildings and formation of access road on land 100m west of the Greenhill salt depot on the A835 between Tore and Conon Bridge, at the junction with the unclassified road leading to Drynie Park.  Although a glance at the map might suggest that the site of the application is pristine woodland, in fact at the moment it is an eyesore, with large areas of bare ground, large mounds of earth, and a jumble of containers, portakabins and rusty machinery, mercifully largely sheltered from view by the salt depot and the remaining woodland.  Planning permission was granted in November 2008 for a 'recycling centre', and it seems the main activity carried out was stone-crushing, but this has been discontinued for some time.  The site was bought in 2015 with that permission extant by the current applicant J. Maclean (Maclean Properties Ltd), with business interests in Muir of Ord.  According to the case officer the only activity currently carried out at the site is the unauthorised storage of containers.

The location and layout plan attached to the application shows the three warehouse/office units to which the application relates, at the north-western end of an area about twice as large filled with more warehouse/office and other unidentified units, which according to the case officer represent what the applicants will want to do in future.  The whole area shown as a potential industrial / commercial estate presumably represents the extent of the previous planning consent.  Questions which arise include whether such an estate might be preferable to the present semi-industrial wasteland, and whether these need be the only two options and why could the site not be restored to a state and use more appropriate to its rural location.

Another area of concern relates to the fate of the remaining woodland, which is owned by the applicant and mainly lies to the west of the development site.  According to the Felling and Re-stocking plan attached to the application, this will be clear-felled,  (with the exception of an area directly behind the salt depot, a strip along the northern boundary and a row of mature trees bordering the minor road to Wellhouse and Drynie Park), and subsequently re-stocked and laid out with paths for the recreation of employees of the industrial / commercial estate.  A maintenance plan for the mature roadside trees, all of which are shown as being outside the 'site boundary' (presumably meaning the area owned by the applicant), suggests that 10 out of 27 would be removed.

SEPA has objected to the application on the grounds of lack of information on surface water drainage, and Killearnan Community Council has expressed concern and asked for more information.  The application is unlikely to be determined before the end of February 2017, and there appears to be no time limit to the submission of objections or comments.

You should be sure to read the forceful and passionate objection to this proposal submitted by Jim Farquhar, formerly Ross and Cromarty area Planning and Building Standards Manager for Highland Council, which you can find among th multitude of documents rather than in with the public comments, or more directly here.  I have put some plans and pictures of the site and its surroundings in a Word document you can download here.  (It takes a while to download).

The case officer for this application is Graham Sharp, who is based in Portree (01478 613808).  The link to the application on Highland Council Eplanning website is

http://wam.highland.gov.uk/wam/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=OE7O5GIHK8000

There is a lot of material relating to the application, including over 70 documents and over 20 public comments (all objections).

If you have views about this application, please

1.  Reply to this post (not to subsequent replies unless you are responding to a specific post made by a previous contributor), and encourage others to contribute to what deserves to be a lively discussionof the issues involved;

2.  Make a comment and/or objection on the eplanning website (link above).  You have to register and log in to do this, but it's easy.  If you are objecting, you need to say so specifically for your objection to be recorded.  Remember there is no deadline for objections, despite suggestions to the contrary on the site.