Planning in principle agreed for 42 Bridge of Awe homes

West Highland Housing Association is the applicant for the development next to Loch Awe Holiday Park, on land west of Crunachy Farm.

Approval was given despite a neighbour’s concerns describing the proposed development as "over-bearing" and the potential to triple the existing residential homes in the Bridge of Awe catchment area.

Worries were also expressed about access coming into the site from a 60 mph road, increased noise in a rural setting, and impact on the area’s wildlife from pine martens to red squirrels and badgers to owls and others.

Previously, the land’s owner had design consent for 15 private detached houses with their own big gardens but for West Highland Housing Association (WHHA), as an affordable housing developer, that low number of new homes would "not represent a financially viable design option" said WHHA chief executive Brett Sadler in a letter to Argyll and Bute planners. 

Maximising efficient use of development land, while always having been a necessity for social landlord developers, has never been more pressing than in the current economic climate, he went on to say in the letter asking for planning permission in principal, so they would need to make the most of the vacant land, in line with both the Local Development Plan (LDP) and the LDP2, he added.

According to Mr Sadler’s letter, available on Argyll and Bute Council’s planning portal for the public to see, it is not WHHA’s intention to begin construction of all 42 units in the first instance.

A phased approach, with a first stage of 16 units, could start within the next five years, pending approvals.