Rural Design wins approval for major extension to remote Scottish town

Highland councillors have approved a local practice’s plans to build 248 homes as a northern extension of Portree on the Isle of SkyeRural Design’s proposals for the Kiltaraglen Masterplan on the edge of Portree were granted permission in principle by Highland Council’s north planning applications committee.The development, for Lochalsh & Skye Housing Association, is set to be delivered over two decades on the thinly populated Inner Hebrides island.It will include three business units, a community shop, a care village and related infrastructure.Rural Design said the scheme would play a ‘significant’ role in addressing a ‘chronic shortage’ of affordable housing on the island.It would also enable completion of a link road that would reduce congestion in the village, according to planning documents.Homes would be no more than two storeys high in the northern part of the site, and single-level on the lower slopes, while taller structures would be placed to the south-east of the development.Planning officers recommended approval of the proposals, saying the layout of buildings around neighbourhood squares and focal points would ‘ensure that the development is legible’.They added that, although the housing volumes proposed were ‘significantly in excess of the indicative number of units outlined in the development plan’, this could be justified by ‘the quality of design, and layout that demonstrates efficient use of land’.They concluded: ‘Subject to a suite of conditions to manage the design and layout of the development, the indicative masterplan is acceptable and will facilitate the delivery of a high-quality development which would not have a significantly detrimental impact on our communities.’