Big plans approved for tiny village

Jamie MacDonald • Published 4 Nov 2009 12:19 0 Comments

PLANS that will see the tiny village of Forestmill turned into a small town were finally given the green light on Thursday.

Permission was originally granted by Clackmannanshire Council in April 2007 to the large scale development but the decision was subsequently called in by the Scottish Government before they adjudged the council was, in fact, best suited to make a judgement on the proposal.

The plan given the thumbs-up by the council's Planning Committee will see developers Muir Group construct 1250 houses, a golf course, hotel, shops and leisure facilities in the settlement which currently has around 25 homes.

Building work will be handled in phases and is expected to last for a total of 10 to 15 years - it is anticipated that Forestmill's school will be completed in phase three, in nine years.

There were no signs of the political split that took place in 2007 over the plans as all the councillors involved in Thursday's vote welcomed the development.

Committee convener Alastair Campbell said it was easily the biggest application he had come across in Clackmannanshire or ever would.

He added, "We have had a lot of public investment with the bridge and the schools.

"This private £330 million investment puts all the others in the shade.

"It will make the village the size of Dollar and takes a lot of pressure off the Hillfoots villages for additional housing needs in Clackmannanshire."

The proposed golf course was described by Ian Duguid, the council's development quality team leader, as being "international standard of a calibre not matched for some miles around".

SNP councillor Walter McAdam raised his concerns over the sustainability of another golf course in an area that already has seven nearby and the amount of tree felling it would incur.

Mr Duguid said there had been 22 previous objections by locals over the proposals which had now dwindled to just three.

Labour councillor Bobby McGill said, "I welcome the golf course because it brings the hotel.

"We don't have enough hotels in the area to be able to attract conferences."

As part of the plans the Meadowhill Opencast mine site will be restored.

A Forestmill resident told the Advertiser they were worried the developers might not deliver all the extras promised to go with the new houses.

She said, "The council thought they had died and gone to heaven when they had the chance to get the opencast site dealt with.

"We are worried we might still have an opencast site. I can't see them (Muir Group) building a school and golf course if they can avoid it.

"It is a worry they could build a certain amount of houses and just walk away.

"The council made such a mess of it with the mine the first time.

"I hope they have it tied in a contract the developers can't build half the homes and leave without providing things like the school and fixing the mine."

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