Developers Springfield Properties PLC face local opposition over Tore business and retail development plan for land at Bogroy Farmhouse
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Initial proposals for a multi-million pound business and retail development that could dramatically transform part of the Black Isle have been tabled.
But developers eyeing the sight at Tore look set to face stiff opposition from local residents uneasy at the scale of the scheme which would include a business park, food retail and a 61-bedroom hotel as well as the prospect of significant residential development down the line.
Springfield Properties PLC has tabled a planning permission in principle bid for land at Bogroy Farmhouse.
It is described as a business, retail and community development at Tore South (Black Isle Gateway) and covers a 17.15 hectare site.
The construction and operation of a business park and low carbon industrial hub comprising up to 325m2 of food retail, 2786m2 of business use, up to 7432m2 of industrial use and up to 7432m2 of storage and distribution space is envisaged.
Also proposed is a hotel with up to 61 bedrooms, 100 car parking spaces, park and ride, access, roads, landscaping and ancillary infrastructure.
Springfield said in documents lodged with the proposals: “The indicative Development Framework Plan, informed by the preceding assessment of constraints and opportunities, has been refined to demonstrate a change in approach from primarily a housing-led development proposal to the delivery of the main non-housing element of the project first. Within this context, it is the intention to seek planning permission in principle for a range of non-housing development in the area outlined.”
One member of the public who commented following an earlier consultation observed: “The end game is to develop Tore into a suburb of Inverness.”
The planning in principle documents also include public feedback from earlier consultations.
One wrote: “Not interested at all. We do not see the need for housing everywhere. Before anything else in Tore, we desperately need new roads, pavements, main sewer and a sensible speed limit of 20mph.”
Another stated: “What about the school and the doctors’ surgery and where are all the people coming from that need this outrageous project?”
Another slammed the project “far too big” and said that too much agricultural land is included.
Another early objector said the proposals “do not take into account or consider the lifestyle choices made by the population of the area”.
One objector listed 21 concerns ranging from “increased traffic from roads already unfit for purpose... in a known accident hotspot” to “loss of farmland and amenity of those wanting to be on a rural setting”.
