COUNCILLORS in the Wee County last week rejected proposals for a large scale housing development in Sauchie.

The plans, which sought to build 1,000 houses on agricultural land west of Branshill Road, were rejected at last Thursday's, January 21, Planning Committee meeting at Clackmannanshire Council.

Allanwater Homes have been developing plans for the site over the last decade and have been seeking planning permission in principle for the 53.7Ha area.

Previously in 2013, the Planning Committee was “minded to approve” the proposals, but the decision required the conclusion of a Section 75 agreement.

That agreement would have included a new primary school on the site with developer contributions toward its construction.

There have been a number of iterations of the application over the years.

However, current proposals involved an extension to Craigbank Primary School, rather than the construction of a new facility.

Also, the site in question is only allocated for 774 houses in the council's Local Development Plan.

Documents tabled for elected members on the day explained that the current proposals are “not informed, nor supported” by the advice and assessment given by the local authority's education service.

Council papers added: “The inadequacy of the applicant’s proposals in respect of education infrastructure are compounded by the applicant’s insistence that the development accommodates 1,000 houses – approximately 20 per cent above the number of units envisaged by the Local Development Plan.

“Approval of the proposals as now presented would expose the Council to the risk of unnecessary and significant capital costs to meet the shortfall in provision that such a decision would leave.

“This would still be likely to result in a sub-optimal standard of education infrastructure, in respect of a further extension to Craigbank Primary School than would not be suitable or appropriate to serve existing and new communities.

“In respect, it is worth noting that Scottish Government funding changes no longer provide for capital education projects, and therefore funds would likely to have to be borrowed.”

The site at Branshill is also home to shallow coal reserves, which has been a known constraint since it was first identified for housing.

Initially, Allanwater were looking to use grouting, a which involves injecting material into the voids within the coal affected area, to stabilise the development.

However, intrusive site investigation revealed that a greater part of the site is affected than originally thought, leading to concerns over the potential costs.

Council papers added: “The applicant’s resultant action was to propose opencast coal extraction as a cost effective means to address the unstable coal reserves affecting the site, as the extracted coal could be sold, thereby generating an income.

“A separate planning application (and Environmental Impact Assessment) was prepared and submitted to the council, although was invalid upon submission.

“The applicant never paid the application fee to validate the application and following the announcement of the closure of Longannet Power Station, the application was withdrawn.”