Laird's plan to build billionaires' Highland hideaway thrown out

Published on Wednesday 16 June 2010 21:35

AMBITIOUS proposals to transform one of the most remote stretches of Highland Perthshire into a £1.3 billion private playground for the world's super-rich lay in ruins last night.

Members of Perth and Kinross Council voted at a special meeting to throw out controversial plans for the Dall Estate on the shores of Loch Rannoch.

Malcolm James, the laird, had boasted of developing his sprawling estate into a Highland "paradise" where only the "multi-multi-billionaires" of the world would have the exclusive right to relax in one another's exalted company.

He announced that the minimum liquid net worth of clients using the estate would be set at 100 million, with membership fees of 2m and annual dues of 500,000.

But local groups, including the Dall Community Association, Rannoch and Tummel Community Council and the Loch Rannoch Conservation Association, had vigorously opposed development, claiming it threatened one of Scotland's most picturesque, unspoiled landscapes and the local tourism industry.

Senior council planners also recommended that the Loch Rannoch scheme should be rejected, claiming it would contravene both local and national planning policies.

At yesterday's special meeting councillors votes 21-3 to reject the outline application. The three councillors who voted against refusal had moved that the application be deferred.

Ian Campbell, the Tory councillor for the Highland ward, moved that the application be refused. He said: "In my view the massive scale of the development is inappropriate for that area of Rannoch.

"I was also particularly concerned that, after years in the making, the applicant had been unable to respond to the concerns of virtually all the statutory consultees."

But Mr Campbell stressed: "It is still open for him (Mr James] to come back with a revised proposal.

Alan Grant, the SNP councillor for Strathmore, seconded the motion to refuse. He said: "My concerns were based on the potential, as I see it, damage to the environment and ecology of the south side of Loch Rannoch.

"I was also concerned about the arbitrary manner in which it appears the applicant thinks he can deal with public rights of way."

Mr James, the reclusive owner of the Dall estate, first revealed his plan to transform his sprawling property into the exclusive resort for the mega-rich in August 2009, sparking a storm of local and national protest.

His plans included a luxury hotel with 104 rooms, two 18-hole golf courses and clubhouse, a state-of-the-art health spa, a concert hall, a "body-enhancement clinic" with surgery facilities, a retail arcade and a shore-side restaurant based on the design of a crannog.

He could not be contacted for comment on the council's decision.