Revolution stirs at Loch Rannoch

Published on Tuesday 4 August 2009 22:49

COMMUNITY and conservation groups across a swath of Highland Perthshire will join forces to fight controversial plans for a £1.3 billion private playground for the world's super-rich, The Scotsman can reveal.

They are planning a concerted campaign to persuade Perth and Kinross Council to reject proposals by Malcolm James, laird of the Dall Estate, to turn his land on the shores of Loch Rannoch into the most exclusive "holiday" resort built in Scotland.

The developers say the resort – with membership fees set at a staggering 2 million – would be without equal in terms of facilities on offer to the wealthy guests they plan to attract.

But local groups, including the Dall Community Association, Rannoch and Tummel Community Council and the Loch Rannoch Conservation Association, are out to block a development they claim threatens one of Scotland's most picturesque, unspoiled landscapes and the local tourism industry.

Dall Community Association spokesman Bob Benson said the implications for Scotland's planning system and environment were even more important than those raised by Donald Trump's 1bn golf and leisure resort at the Menie estate in Aberdeenshire.

He said: "If this went through, no site in Scotland would be safe – no matter what its environmental and ecological status. This folly must be subject to the highest level of public scrutiny. This area is even more sensitive than the land involved in the Trump development.

"The Black Wood, which borders the development site, is a site of special scientific interest and Loch Rannoch is part of the Tay catchment, which is a special area of conservation and of national and international status in terms of its protection."

Mr Benson said the three organisations had agreed to band together to fight the application. But he added: "We also expect support from a number of other organisations, including those who are involved in the tourist industry whose businesses would suffer. The sheer huge scale of the development has significant implications for a very popular part of Highland Perthshire, which is used by thousands of people every year.

"Public land and an area of national scenic and environmental significance must be protected from greedy developers who seek only to serve the wealthy few."

Loch Rannoch Conservation Association secretary Richard Legate said: "We are extremely concerned. The Black Wood is nationally and internationally famous.

"The developer's planning people describe it is as 'visionary' development. I think most people in Rannoch would call it delusional. The figures are laughable. But we have no choice but to take this threat seriously and to oppose it."

Helen Au, treasurer of Rannoch and Tummel Community Council, said: "We have extreme doubts as to the validity of the economic benefits to the local area and Scotland as a whole."

A spokesman for the Dall Estate said: "Documentation has been lodged with the application, which acknowledges the potential benefits, impacts and issues that the development may have on the local area, region and Scotland as a whole."

He added that he hoped for a "satisfactory outcome".