THE Scottish Government’s decision on controversial plans to build a harness racing track at the Bannockburn battlefield site is due soon following a key update.
The date for an independent from the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) to submit their report to Ministers for them to make a decision on the controversial plans was set for January 18.
The National understands that the independent reporter has made their recommendation to Government Ministers, who are still considering the findings before making a final decision on the planning application – which should be due in the next two to three months.
Ministers called in the plans back in August and noted in a letter on the Scottish Government's Planning and Environmental Appeals Division concerns around the “potential impact on [a] designated battlefield of national significance”.
Ministers also cited a potential impact on the Bannockburn Rotunda after calling in the plans which were approved by Stirling Council in July.
The proposals, lodged by H Muirhead of the Scottish Harness Racing Club, include the creation of a trotting track surface and a single-storey building that would house toilets, a bar and provide hot takeaway food.
The site is around 8.7 hectares in size and is currently greenfield agricultural land which sits opposite the National Trust for Scotland’s (NTS) Battle of Bannockburn visitor centre.
The local authority’s decision was fiercely criticised by campaigners and by the NTS, which previously said it may seek a judicial review of the decision if the application is not refused by the Government.
Commenting on the overdue decision on the proposal by ministers a NTS spokesperson said: “Like many watching this case, we are keen for a resolution and hope there will be positive news soon.”
The charity previously commissioned a report to highlight the flaws in the proposal which they claimed were “unacceptable”.
At the time NTS director of conservation and policy Stuart Brooks said: “The report supports our contention that this is the wrong application in the wrong place with the wrong decision by Stirling Council.”
Glasgow-based landscape planner Douglas Harman led the study which was submitted to an independent reporter, who reviewed the application and its approval by the council in July.
The report stated there had been no landscape and visual impact assessment submitted with the application.
It went on to say the failure to provide an assessment of the effects of the proposals on the surrounding landscape was a “fundamental omission”.
The report also said photos of how the development would look “do not conform to relevant guidance” and were misleading, unreliable and “fundamentally flawed”.
Brooks added after the report was published: “It’s more than a matter of protecting green fields - they are the location of the first day’s combat at Bannockburn and are not just historically and nationally significant, but also form a core part of the setting and topography of the wider landscape that dictated the course of the battle.
“There is no doubt that the proposals, should they go ahead, would be wholly disruptive and compromise yet another part of the historic battlefield.”
Stirling Council declined to comment.
