PLANS TO CREATE hundreds of new homes on land at Moray at Elgin’s northern boundary have taken a major step forward.
Moray Council gave a green light to the creation of 1500 new homes in December for a project that when completed will have seen a 276-acre site owned by Pitgaveny Estates transformed.
Now the first stage has been submitted jointly by Pitgaveny and Robertson Homes, with the Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) submitted detailing the start of a 25-year plan for the land between the Lossiemouth Road and Duffus Road.
The first planning application is likely to be for around 300 homes, 75 of which will be built as affordable properties. Future plans include a local hub comprising a farm shop, a café and offices, with cycle paths and woodland surrounding a residential park and amphitheatre.
Findrassie was the largest comprehensive multiple-use site in last year’s Moray Local Development Plan, having been identified as long-term development land by the council almost a decade ago.
Pitgaveny engaged Savills to begin work on a masterplan in 2011, which has been formed in full consultation with Moray Council and praised by the council’s independent assessors, Architecture and Design Scotland.
Now the landowner has appointed Robertson Homes as their preferred developer, with co-owner Rebecca Russell explaining: “It is important to us to work with a local business with experience both in Moray and nationwide.
“We have worked with Robertson before, but Findrassie is an undertaking on a much larger scale with high expectations, and we are confident this is the right company to take the development forward.”
Elgin-based Robertson are currently marketing a residential development at Hamilton Gardens, less than a mile from Findrassie.
Managing director John Murphy is enthusiastic about the new development proposals: “Findrassie presents us with a wonderful opportunity to create a whole neighbourhood, with a school, community facilities, business premises and shops.
“The Findrassie Master Plan is one of the most generously landscaped we have worked with, and it allows us to create a community with excellent links to the town and quality housing of all types and sizes.”
Playing a key role in coordinating the complexities of the masterplan is Debbie Mackay of Savills, who said the “the culmination of many years of careful, co-operative planning – Pitgaveny and all of the design team have high aspirations for this development.”