A development of 16 houses is to go ahead in Toab, twice the recommended density for the area.

The application was passed by Orkney Islands Council’s Planning Committee on 16th of June 2020.

Link: Meeting of OIC Planning Committee 16th of June 2020

You can listen to the discussion on this application 41 minutes in.

The 16  houses will have air source heat pumps and some with integral garages. Also constructed will be  an access, footway, road, reedbed, treatment plants and soakaway.

The houses are located at the Bay of Suckquoy LNCS, which is:

“important for its coastal saltmarsh and intertidal mud flats, as well as patches of upland heath, freshwater marsh and semi-improved grassland.”

Objectors to the building of the sites  were concerned that the development would adversely affect the biodiversity of the Bay of Suckquoy as well as road safety issues.

There is also a coastal flooding risk adjacent to where the houses will be built.

The planning application was given the go ahead with the conditions that wildflowers will be part of  landscaping, measures be put in place to reduce to protect/manage flood risk/damage and the relocation of the proposed communal sewage treatment system to be entirely within the development area. It was noted that with these conditions that it “would have no detrimental impact on biodiversity”.

The site layout, including housing density, and design of individual houses are acceptable. Residential amenity and biodiversity would be adequately protected. Proposed Erection 16 Houses Greenfield St Andrews