News / Utnabrake house scheme needs more work
A MAJOR housing scheme to tackle the waiting list in the Scalloway area has been deferred after officials raised objections.
Building firm JHB Ltd and Hjaltland Housing Association want to construct around 120 homes, a business park and a new health centre at Utnabrake, north of Shetland’s ancient capital.
The developers said the move was backed by planners when it was first mooted last summer, but when it came to looking at the final designs the officials took a different view.
Shetland Islands Council’s planning board was told yesterday (Wednesday) that the houses were to be built on good agricultural land, they would create a huge increase in traffic and the design was inappropriate for the area.
Officials wanted the developer to look at the other end of the village, beyond Port Arthur for new developments.
Councillors decided to defer a decision to allow JHB and Hjaltland to sit down with the planning department to find a way forward.
Hjaltland’s vice chairman Bobby Hunter voiced his frustration with the council, saying yesterday’s decision was “disheartening”.
He said: “We have been told to sit down with the planners and try to take this forward, but nothing has been laid down about how to do that.
“We have a situation where the community appears to want the development and yet the planners are implacably opposed to it. Should the planners not be trying to facilitate the community’s wishes?”
He added that Port Arthur was not suitable for development due to economics and environmental designation.
One of the bonuses of the Utnabrake scheme was to be a new health centre, thanks to an “innovative” arrangement where Hjaltland would build the premises and the NHS would lease them. Without the scheme, this will not go ahead.
After yesterday’s meeting planning board chairman Frank Robertson said that the application as it stood was not suitable for approval, but councillors were sympathetic to having another look at the scheme.
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