A group of residents in a Moray coastal village have hit back at further attempts to halt developments that they say will help their community.
Plans for a nine-home development in Portgordon were renewed last week when local landowner Gemma Campbell reinstated her bid to build on seafront land that is currently used as a clothes drying area.
An original application last year was withdrawn alongside the development of a new café and boatyard in the village when a group of local residents lodged complaints. However, the café and boatyard application went through earlier this year with the support of a second group of residents.
Now the homes application has bee lodged with Moray Council – and again some residents are fighting the development claiming that the land has been used as a drying area for some years and as such should not be developed.
Ms Campbell said: “I have worked hard to try and accommodate local opinions on the aesthetic and positioning of the site.
”The site outlined falls within the local development plan and it would be good to see the foreshore area and this particular road tidied up.
”The overall intention is to breathe new life into the village with new investment and regeneration of the foreshore and harbour area of Portgordon – and that is what I am working towards.”
One of the villagers who formed a local group in support of Ms Campbell’s plans for the village expressed her “disappointment” at opposition to the development rising up once again.
She said: “It is disappointing to see that they are still looking for something that would scupper the plans of a development that will bring so much to the village.
”Most of the residents have gardens where they can dry their clothes. The rest of the village do not feel it necessary to dry our clothes in full view of the public.
”When all this is being spoken about they seem to overlook the fact that these lines are on Gemma’s land – Gemma Campbell has bent over backwards to accommodate them and another developer would perhaps not be so accommodating.”