Council Approves Portree Supermarket Plan
The Highland Council has confirmed approval of an outline planning application for a supermarket in Portree, Skye.
The application was submitted by Oatbridge Ltd to develop a 1.29 hectare site on Dunvegan Road, Portree, currently occupied by MacFarlane Brothers and Jewson.
The outline application was approved in the first instance by the Council’s Ross Skye and Lochaber Planning Applications and Review Committee and unanimously confirmed when the matter was referred, on a technicality, to the full council today (Thursday).
Planning officers recommended refusal of the application as they deemed it contrary to the development plan.
The Council require to notify Scottish Ministers of their decision, giving their reasons for departing from the development plan, in order that Ministers can consider whether or not to call in the application for determination. The reasons are: -
Approval of the application would not be detrimental to existing retail provision in Portree or to allocated retail sites aimed at consolidating the shopping hierarchy.
Approval of the application would not have a detrimental effect on the viability of Portree town centre. This part of Portree, including the application site, has established itself as the commercial centre serving Skye and the proposed development will be a welcome addition to a rapidly growing retail park comprising wholesalers and businesses selling direct to the public.
The proposed development could not be accommodated within the mixed use development allocation at Bayfield and would not prejudice the future development of the Bayfield site which has been allocated without development for almost 10 years.
Approval of the application is an opportunity to attract a new supermarket operator to Portree which would introduce choice and competition to the retail sector. This would help to retain, within Skye, the retail spend that currently leaks to Dingwall and Inverness and as a result reduce those car journeys currently made by Skye residents.