Gus Jones
Campaigns continue against the controversial An Camas Mor (ACM) new town on Rothiemurchus Estate, that is driven by the father and son partnership John and James Grant of Rothiemurchus.
Springfield Homes unexpectedly pulled out of the 1500 house project nearly a year ago, in spite of the CNPA having granted planning permission in principle. They appear to be the only developers involved in ACM to date. Whether their withdrawal was associated with the numerous challenging conditions and costs of developing this greenfield site is unknown. Significantly, one cost that Rothiemurchus Estate appear to have off-loaded onto the tax payer is that of the bridge across the river Spey needed to connect ACM to Aviemore.
With recent revelations of a 50% population crash in the globally threatened freshwater pearl mussels in the Spey linked to pollution and other factors, sewage arrangements for the new town remains a significant unresolved issue. We understand options were discussed with the CNPA last September but that there has been no sign of progress since.
The Planning Reporters examining the emerging CNP Local Development Plan (2015-20) indicated it was not their remit to examine the principle or need for the new town because it already had planning permission in principle. However, they did state that if the project lapsed, the allocation would stand to be reviewed in the next LDP (2020-25), with opportunities for public consultation.
Please let the webmaster know if there are problems with viewing these pages or with the links they contain.