Government overturns Stirling housing developments refused over education contributions

Plans for up to 433 new homes on a site at the western edge of Cowie, which were refused by Stirling Council last year, have been given approval for the Scottish Government Reporter.Taylor Wimpey had applied for planning permission in principle for two adjoining housing proposals as part of its masterplan for land at Berryhills.Although the sites are allocated in the adopted Local Development Plan, the local authority rejected the proposals in July last year after agreement could not be reached with the developers to provide education contributions.It was deemed by the council’s Planning and Regulation Panel that the developments would not provide fair and reasonable contributions proportionate to the scale and nature of the developments with regards to contributions to school capacities.Now it appears that the government Reporter has overturned this decision.