Printed minutes
Argyll and Bute Council · 19 August 2026
Back to Argyll and Bute Local Review Body — 19 August 2026 and its agenda
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MINUTES of MEETING of ARGYLL AND BUTE LOCAL REVIEW BODY held BY MICROSOFT TEAMS on WEDNESDAY, 19 AUGUST 2026 Present: Councillor Gordon Blair (Chair) Councillor John Armour Councillor Reeni Kennedy-Boyle Attending: Iain Jackson, Governance, Risk and Safety Manager (Adviser) Hazel MacInnes, Senior Committee Officer (Minute Taker) Emma Ledsom, Senior Solicitor (Observer) 1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE There were no apologies for absence. 2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest. 3. CONSIDER NOTICE OF REVIEW REQUEST: LAND SOUTH OF LITTLE RAHANE FARM, ROSNEATH G84 0QN (REF: 26/0001/LRB) The Chair, Councillor Gordon Blair, welcomed everyone to the meeting. He explained that no person present would be entitled to speak other than the Members of the Local Review Body (LRB) and Mr Jackson, who would provide procedural advice if required. He advised that at the first calling held on 9 June 2026 it had been agreed to request further written information from the Planning Officer in respect of model conditions and reasons. This had been contained within the Agenda pack for the meeting held on 4 August 2026 (Pages 3 – 12) where it had been agreed to adjourn the meeting to allow Members further time to seek advice on the preparation of a competent Motion. The Chair advised that his first task would be to establish if the Members of the LRB felt that they had sufficient information before them to come to a decision on the Review. The Members unanimously confirmed that they had sufficient information before them to come to a decision on the Review. The Chair moved the following Motion, thanking Councillor Kennedy-Boyle for preparing and submitting the Motion - With regard to Planning Application Reference Number 25/00381/PP and Local Review Board Reference Number 26/0001/LRB this is a motion to overturn the previous decision to reject the proposal and approve planning subject to the conditions set out. This motion recognises that LDP2 policies are guided by ABOIP 2013-2023, now replaced by ABOIP 2024- 2033, and that these Argyll and Bute Outcome Improvement Plans provide the guiding strategy for LDP2 – population growth and housing provision are key outcomes that expect to be achieved. Having considered all the information before the LRB, there are two main determining issues as to why the planners have refused this application.
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1. Whether the proposed dwellinghouse would contribute towards ‘local living’ with reference to National Planning Framework 4 and the Argyll and Bute Local development Plan 2 – adopted February 2024; and 2. Whether the proposed development will have an adverse impact upon visual landscape character. NPF4 establishes a presumption in favour of sustainable development, and policy must be applied holistically rather than restrictively and I have noted that there are no objections from Roads, Flooding, Environmental Health, Scottish Water or the MOD. ‘Local living’ is defined in the Scottish Government (draft) ‘local living and 20-minute neighbourhood: Planning Guidance’ document as a location which provides people with the opportunity to meet the majority of their daily needs within a reasonable distance of their home. The planners have taken the view that the site is relatively remote from local facilities in Garelochhead and Rosneath and they do not consider that a development at this location would enable people to meet their daily needs within a reasonable distance of their home and would only serve to increase car-based travel. On that basis, they took the view that the proposed development is contrary to the provisions NPF 4 Policies 15 and 17 and LDP 2 Policies 02. I am of the view that there has been too much weight placed on the 20-Minute guidance by the planners in terms of this particular application, and taking account of firstly, the comment from the Chief Planning Officer that in many parts of Argyll and Bute 20-Minute Neighbourhoods are not viable, and a more flexible approach to Local Living can be considered and secondly, the revised consultation response from the development policy team that Policy 17(a) is not intended to be interpreted in a restrictive manner, instead it is only one consideration for a proposal and if Policy 17(b) can be met (in relation to Local Living) then Policy 17 can be considered to be met. I’ve taken the view that the distances referred to from the location of this development into Rosneath and also Garelochhead can be considered as being reasonable and will provide the opportunity for the residents to meet the majority of their daily needs within a reasonable distance of their home and as such, this development can be approved, as complying with NPF4 Policy 15, 17(b) and LDP2 Policy 02. The other reason for refusal relates to the planners view that the development would create an adverse landscape and visual impact, asserting the proposal is incongruous and prominent within the hillside landscape contrary to NFP Policy 14 and 17 and LDP2 Policies 02, 04, 05 and 08. This particular issue is subjective and I am of the opinion, from the information available to the LRB, that the development is of appropriate siting, scale and design adjacent to an existing rural grouping and as such will not have an adverse landscape and visual impact within the hillside landscape, it will not be seen from the B833 road which runs below the site and while it will be visible from the loch, it will not, in my view, be sufficiently prominent to be considered as incongruous within the hillside landscape, and as such it is not contrary to NPF4 Policy 14 and 17 and LDP2 Policies 04, 05 and 08.
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I therefore move that this application can be approved subject to the conditions, reasons, standard and additional advisory notes detailed at pages 4 to 12 of the agenda pack for the meeting of the LRB held on 4 August 2026. The terms of the Motion were unanimously agreed by the Members of the LRB. Decision The Argyll and Bute Local Review Body having considered the merits of the case de novo unanimously agreed to uphold the review and grant Planning Permission for the for the erection of a dwellinghouse and garage, and installation of sewage treatment plant and soakaway at Land South of Little Rahane Farm Cottage, Rahane, Argyll and Bute subject to the conditions, reasons and additional advisory notes detailed at pages 4 – 12 of the agenda pack for the meeting of the LRB held on 4 August 2026. (Reference: Further written submissions from the Planning Department, submitted)