Plans for badly needed affordable homes in Nethy Bridge at risk …
Plans for 21 badly needed affordable homes in Nethy Bridge are being recommended for refusal although planning officers have said that this is on 'fine margins'.
There are concerns that the 0.8 hectares site which was home to the village's rail station and yard on the western edge of the village could be prone to flooding.
Grantown-based AW Laing has applied for consent for the properties accessed via Station Road but the Scottish Environment Protection Agency has made an objection throwing a huge spanner into the works.
There is dispute over the flooding risk at the site from the River Nethy but Cairngorms National Park Authority planners have said they are unable to resolve these and therefore have had to recommend refusal.
The proposal is for three three-bedroom detached properties, nine three-bedroom semi-detached properties and nine two-bedroom semi-detached properties at a time when the strath is crying out for more affordable homes.
CNPA planning manager Emma Bryce states in her report: "The application is for housing on a brownfield site within an identified settlement with an extant planning permission that includes permission for housing.
"The site is located close to the centre of Nethy Bridge and the proposal would deliver housing targeted at local demand.
"Subject to appropriate conditions, the application would be recommended for approval were it not for the possibility of flood risk on the site.
"The information submitted by the applicant supports a conclusion that the site is free from flooding but SEPA are not persuaded that the supporting flood risk assessment rules out flooding of the site and maintain an objection.
"While officers consider that flooding of the site is unlikely given the information submitted, we recognise SEPA’s concerns and cannot conclude with certainty that there would be no flood risk."
The site lies within the functional floodplain based on the SEPA Flood Maps and is therefore at medium to high risk of flooding from the River Nethy.
Avoidance of building on flood risk areas in the 200 year risk plus a climate change scenario is now a requirement following the recent adoption of the latest Scottish Government national planning policy.
The lowest flow estimate only reaches the boundary of the rail yard site while other estimates show the site completely flooded.
There are few recent records of flooding in Nethy Bridge.
The only significant flooding of note in the village appears to be in 1829 which pre-dates the formation of the railway later in the 1800s.
Ms Bryce states in her report: "There is no disagreement about the flood of 1829 but some disagreement about the reasons for Nethy Bridge flooding so badly.
"One of the differences in the catchment noted by local people is that in 1829 the Nethy catchment had a number of sawmills upstream of Nethy Bridge that flooded and washed timber downstream where it blocked the main bridge.
"They point out that those sawmills no longer provide such easily moved material and that following the flood, the bridge was repaired with additional flood capacity.
"The railway line was built after the flooding and was built on an embankment that would logically have sat above the earlier flood level.
"So much of Nethy Bridge and of the wider catchment has changed since then and the records of the 1829 flood are not precise, that the event does not provide much helpful data for current assessments."
However, there is a small chink of light for the applicants.
Ms Bryce states: "Officers recognise that this decision is based on fine margins and the weight attached to information related to flooding. If the committee was to resolve to approve the application, officers have prepared appropriate conditions that would address other matters."
However, the planner cautions: "Because of SEPA’s objection... this application falls within the criteria for referral to Scottish Ministers if the planning committee decide to approve it."
Nethy Bridge Community Council has welcomed 'much needed affordable housing', however, the watchdog is concerned that the dwellings are two storeys high rather than one and a half storeys.
Planners have also said there is some anecdotal disappointment from potential neighbours regarding overlooking.
Two letters of objection and a letter of support have been received.
The grounds of objection are:
• some of the proposed houses will overlook and result in a loss of privacy to adjacent properties.
• The development will result in the loss of mature (25 year old) trees.
• Loss of access to the Speyside Way.
• Intensification of use on the site will result in road safety issues.
Members of the Cairngorms National Park Authority's planning service will consider the plans next Friday at their meeting. There will be a site visit ahead of the committee meeting.
The planning application can be viewed here[2]
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References
- ^ Click here to sign up to our free newsletters! (www.strathspey-herald.co.uk)
- ^ The planning application can be viewed here (cairngorms.co.uk)
- ^ here (www.strathspey-herald.co.uk)