Scottish dairy company Graham's has lodged an appeal to overturn the decision by Scottish Ministers last month to refuse planning permission to build a £40m dairy facility and 600 new homes.
Last month, Graham’s The Family Dairy, in partnership with Mactaggart & Mickel Homes, urged the Scottish government to approve its planning application for Airthrey Green in Stirling.
The plan included the creation of a £40m processing, R&D and training dairy facility. In partnership with Mactaggart & Mickel Homes, it will also see the development of 600 houses and a new primary school.
But Scottish Ministers refused planning permission to redevelop Airthrey Green. Minister for Housing Kevin Stewart decided that the proposed development did not accord with the new Local Development Plan.
There are also environmental concerns that the project will build houses on an area of greenbelt land, amid concerns about flooding and other issues if the building was to go ahead.
But Graham's has now lodged an appeal to the Court of Session to overturn the decision.
The appeal was submitted on the grounds that the decision was not within the powers of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, in that the decision taken by Ministers was based on "irrelevant information" being taken into account.
It argues that Scottish Ministers “erred in taking account of irrelevant considerations and/or leaving out of account relevant considerations by failing to take into account the material change in circumstances since the Reporter’s submission of his Report on 1 June 2017.”
A statement by Graham's said: "In particular, Scottish Ministers relied, in full, on the Reporter’s recommendation that to approve the appeal would prejudice the outcome of the Local Development Plan examination. However, this recommendation was made in June 2017 and by June 2018, the LDP Examination had concluded.
"As such, the issue of prematurity no longer existed. Furthermore, Scottish Ministers failed to give proper consideration to the fact that the Local Development Plan process has resulted in a Plan which continues the housing shortfall in Stirling. This dire situation is a major contributor to unsustainable house price increases in Stirling, a situation which would have been resolved had the appeal been allowed."
The appeal also highlights that Ministers failed to provide “proper, adequate and intelligible reasons for their decision”.
