Plans for the brand new £12 million Scottish Crannog Centre have been unanimously approved.
The Scottish Crannog Centre Trust hopes the attraction will be "Scotland’s most sustainable museum" and bring "many more jobs, opportunities and visitors to Highland Perthshire ".
Perth and Kinross Council's Planning and Placemaking Committee met on September 22 to consider the plans.
The proposal - put before councillors - was for the five-star visitor attraction to move directly across the water to a new site at Dalerb. Visitors will continue to learn how crannog dwellers on Loch Tay lived when they stayed there 2,500 years ago.
The new centre will include an Iron Age village with demonstration structures, a roundhouse, a crannog (eventually three), footpaths, car park, as well as a visitor centre with a shop, exhibition, café, teaching and office space. The toilet block is to be extended to include an accessible shower and centralised plant room.
At 11pm on June 11, 2021 a fire destroyed the recreated Iron Age house on the shore of Loch Tay in just six minutes - hastening the need for the development a new Scottish Crannog Centre. Plans were already in place to move with the current site deemed unsustainable.
Within a week of the fire the charitable trust received £50,000 of donations to help build the new centre. That figure has now doubled to £100,000.
Objector William Duff - whose family has lived in the area since 1950 and Dalerb for 26 years - addressed the committee on Thursday on behalf of local residents.
He told councillors: "I'm really passionate about the local area and the beauty of the Dalerb site. I've arranged for litter bins and a portable toilet and am very passionate about keeping the place tidy and maintaining the asset for the many visitors that come here."
He added: "I'm a great supporter of Crannog and have an annual family membership."
But Mr Duff said he and local residents were concerned about losing access to the beach.
He said: "The small secluded beach is a sanctuary for many. It's never really crowded here."
Mr Duff told the committee how locals hold picnics, barbecues, paddleboard, canoe and moor boats there.
Scottish Crannog Centre director Mike Benson assured the committee: "As custodians of Dalerb we understand that the area is not just for the Crannog Centre, but for the people who come to use it."
On questioning from Cllr David Illingworth he confirmed local residents would still be able to use the beach.
Moving the plans for approval, Highland Perthshire SNP councillor Mike Williamson said: "I recognise this has been a really rocky journey everyone having to move from the existing site."
He added: "I do not see any reason to object."
Conservative Strathtay councillor Ian James seconded and said: "I'm absolutely delighted. It's an iconic image of the Crannog on Loch Tay.
"I look forward to seeing it back again. I do like the position on the other side of the Tay. It's far more easily accessible."
The plans were unanimously approved.
After the meeting a delighted Mike Benson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "We are really humbled by all the support we have had and look forward to moving on with our plans."
