Almost seventeen months after Stirling Council refused planning permission for development on the Park of Keir, SNP Ministers have overturned the decision.
Stirling Labour Councillor Margaret Brisley who chaired the Planning Panel that refused the application in 2015 said:
“This is a deeply disappointing decision by the SNP Scottish Government who have delivered a slap in the face to local residents and local democracy. Stirling Councillors agreed our Local Development Plan which didn’t include such a provision on this site. Stirling Council Planning and Regulation Panel held a public hearing and considered all aspects of the application and ultimately refused it. It is also unacceptable that the SNP took so long to come to this unfortunate decision – had any local council taken this amount of time on a planning application, they would face criticism from the Scottish Government.”
Stirling Labour Group Leader Councillor Danny Gibson said:
“This is an outrageous decision by the SNP’s Local Government Minister which treats local democratic decision making here in Stirling with contempt. Instead of more central command and control over the planning system from this minority SNP Scottish Government, MSPs in Holyrood should be ensuring that the Scottish Government respects local government. To make matters worse the Minister Kevin Stewart MSP has even ignored his own Scottish Government reporter’s recommendation “To dismiss the appeal and refuse planning permission”. It would seem that the Minister who ‘called in’ this application in for his own decision thinks he knows better than everyone else. Locally we are all proud of the tennis achievements of the Murray family however this greenbelt land is the wrong location for this project – there are plenty of other suitable sites in the Stirling Council area and it is still not too late for the applicants to work with, not against, public opinion on this matter.”