Braemar community addresses lack of affordable housing

Braemar Community Council is tackling the issue of affordable housing head on, with an application for 15 new properties in the village. Planning consent was granted today by the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) for the community-led development on a brownfield site just off Mar Road.

The application sought planning permission for the erection of 15 dwellinghouses with associated access, drainage, service and landscaping works. The homes will be in three blocks, comprising ten flats and five terraced houses with all the properties being affordable housing for social rent in Braemar.

Recommending the application from Braemar Community Council for approval, CNPA Planning Officer Stephanie Wade said: “This is an application for 100 per cent affordable housing to rent in Braemar where we know there is demand.

“The development meets with all our policies around new housing and supporting economic development and while some concerns have been expressed relating to loss of trees and traffic issues in particular, these can all be dealt with by way of conditions. The development is sympathetic to the surroundings and brings a rather untidy brownfield site back into good use for the benefit of the community.”

CNPA Planning Committee Convener, Dr Gaener Rodger said: “I very much welcome this application for new affordable rental accommodation. There is an increasing need for the provision of different models of affordable housing, either to let or to buy, in many of our communities across the Park including Braemar.

“The proposal is unlikely to result in significant adverse landscape and visual effects with the site, for the most part, being well screened by mature woodland and some additional native species planting. It’s good to see this site being put to good use for the benefit of the community.”

While members were happy to agree with officers in relation to the Braemar housing development, an application for a hotel, self catering holiday units and retail outlets on Aviemore’s Grampian Road had to go to a vote. The application had been recommended for approval but an amendment to refuse won nine votes to six. Several committee members were uncomfortable with the proposals expressing concerns about overdevelopment of the site, the design of the buildings and particularly traffic and parking issues.

To read the planning papers in full please go here: https://cairngorms.co.uk/working-together/meetings/meeting/planning-2022-06-24/