House at Aultguish - Permission in Principle Application

Garve and District Community Council

Added at 14:13 on 24 December 2025

https://wam.highland.gov.uk/wam/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=T6N88WIHLT900&activeTab=summary

Reference    25/04611/PIP

Address    Land 100M SW Of Aultguish Inn Garve
Proposal    Erection of house

Alternative Reference    100734128-001
Application Received    Tue 02 Dec 2025
Application Validated    Tue 16 Dec 2025

Status    Under Consideration
Appeal Status    Not Available
Appeal Decision    Not Available

Update 10th Janauary 2026

After careful consideration of this application GDCC submited an objection on 9th January 2026 as follows;-

Application: 25/040611/ PIP - Planning Permission in Principle - Proposed Dwelling House

Location: Land to the South West of Aultguish Inn, Garve, IV23 2PQ

Objection - Principle of Development

Without prejudice to any assessment of flood risk, which will require detailed consideration by SEPA as statutory consultee, the Garve and District Community Council - GDCC objects to this application for Planning Permission in Principle on the grounds that the proposal fails to comply with National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) and the established rural housing policy framework applied by Highland Council.

The application site is located in open countryside and lies out-with any defined settlement or settlement development area. There is no established residential cluster in the vicinity.
The only building in the immediate area is the long-established Aultguish Inn, which is a standalone commercial use and does not constitute a settlement or housing group for the purposes of countryside housing policy.

Under NPF4 Policy 17 (Rural Homes), support for new housing in rural locations is limited to specific circumstances, including infill within an existing group of houses, reuse of brownfield land or redundant buildings, housing required to support a rural business, or development that demonstrably supports and sustains an existing rural community. None of these criteria are met in this case. The proposal represents a new, isolated dwelling on greenfield land, unrelated to any established residential pattern.

Approval of Planning Permission in Principle would introduce sporadic development in the countryside and would risk the incremental extension of roadside housing along the A835 trunk road. This would be contrary to the spatial planning principles of NPF4, which seek to avoid isolated and ribbon development and to ensure that new housing reinforces existing settlement patterns rather than creating new ones.

The Community Council considers that the proposal is unacceptable in principle, irrespective of any future consideration of detailed matters such as design, access or flood risk.

The absence of a clear policy justification for a new dwelling in this location means that the application does not pass the required policy test at Planning Permission in Principle stage.

For these reasons, the Garve and District Community Council respectfully requests that the application be refused.