Planning row at Crook Moss Gypsy site - Kinross-shire

From the Courier

Work continues on the creation of a Gypsy/Traveller site at Crook Moss in Kinross-shire, despite councillors having so far failed to grant it permission.

The development has proved hugely controversial with the local community, and council planners have admitted to inaccuracies in reports presented to elected members tasked with deciding its merits.

Plans for the site first went before councillors in July last year and were recommended for approval by planning officers.

Even so, members of the local authority’s development management committee deferred a decision after asking for more information about drainage and ground contamination.

To the anger of opponents, however, a nod was given to the applicants that the committee would consider green-lighting the development in the future – should those issues be addressed.

Months on, it appears that such additional information has yet to be forthcoming and the community is still in the dark about when the issue will be revisited.

A council spokesman admitted to The Courier that he could not specify when the issue would again come before committee.

There has been extensive work carried out on the site, with hard surfaces laid, power supplies introduced and fencing erected.

A number of caravans are already present on the site, including at least one semi-permanent chalet-style caravan. The work has continued without any apparent enforcement action by Perth and Kinross Council.

The Crook of Devon site – a former village tip – had lain unused for some time before its purchase by a member of the travelling community, who asserted that there was a need for additional permanent pitches in the Kinross-shire area and said they were keen to build relationships with the surrounding residents.

Local residents have been vocal in their opposition to the plan, in large part because they believe the applicants have “ridden roughshod” over the community and an obliging council.

They also question whether there is a local need for the site, given the proximity of the Greenacres site, with its 28 residential caravan pitches and Gairneybank, which offers pitches for 15 residential and 25 touring caravans.

Gairneybank also has planning permission for a further 25 residential caravan pitches.

Fossoway Community Council secretary Kevin Borthwick said: “Had it been you or I that was acting in this fashion then it would simply not have been allowed to happen.

“Nonetheless, rather than being at loggerheads with the travelling community, it is with the procedure that we have the real problem. There is a feeling that the community has been dealt a poor hand.

“Even should this development be knocked back now, it will already be well established and you have to question what recourse we as a community and, indeed, the council would have.”

He added: “There appears to be no resolution in sight and it is now simply a case of playing wait and see.”

A spokesman for Perth and Kinross Council said: “A number of issues were raised about the application when it came up at committee, and these are being discussed with the applicant.”