Holiday cabins in Huntly approved despite councillor fears location was 'too remote'

Four holiday cabins will be built near Huntly despite calls from council chiefs to refuse them over fears they were “too remote”.

RNF Property Ltd wanted to build four holiday lodges at Backhill of Drumblair, Largue near Huntly.

Plans showed three of the cabins would have two-bedrooms, a shared family space, and a shower room, while the fourth cabin would be designed to be more accessible.

Developers revealed that the timber-clad lodges would run off-grid powered by solar panels installed on site.

Meanwhile, EV charging would be provided along with bike stores for those wishing to cycle during their stay.

The self-catering cabins will be available for visitors to book for long weekends or up to a maximum of six weeks.

Developers said this “gives the freedom of holiday users to explore the Aberdeenshire countryside and tourist attractions”.

The short-term lets can host up to four guests at a time.

However, council planners refused the proposal as they didn’t think it was well connected to nearby towns or villages, and would be “car-dependent”.

While they believed the cabin design was acceptable, bosses stated the site “does not provide direct, easy and safe links to local facilities via walking, wheeling or cycling networks”.

Planners also thought the application failed to provide enough detail about the demand for such a development, if similar sites are nearby, or what the benefits of it would be.

But the developers recently took their application to the Aberdeenshire local review body in a bid to overturn the decision.

Councillor Isobel Davidson said she found the proposal “a little bit difficult” as while she was “absolutely for rural tourism”, she believed this particular application was “too remote”.

She explained: “The roads are not really good walking routes, and there is a distillery there which means the road could be busy with lorries.

“There’s just this complete lack of connection to anything… There’s not a shop in the village or decent bus routes.”

She added: “I’m not convinced that this is a good site.

“There’s not any rural walks in this area, there’s no suitable paths to cycle on, and the road, to me, is dangerous for strangers to cycle on.”

But her colleague councillor Catherine Victor disagreed saying the quiet spot would be “exactly what a holidaymaker is looking for”.

“If they’re looking for a rural tourist spot, they don’t want to be anywhere near shops or anything else…They want to be in the middle of the country,” she explained.

Meanwhile, councillor Colin Simpson believed the cabins would offer another benefit to potential guests.

He stated: “I think the attraction for these particular cabins for lots of people would be the dark skies that would be available to them.

“Not having lights or other habitation anywhere around, you would have a fantastic look at the stars at night.”

Councillor Richard Menard called for the refusal to be overturned as he argued the cabins would provide “good tourist accommodation, which is much needed in the district”.

He also backed the “desirable” development as it would create jobs, encourage tourism in the region and bring a welcome boost to the rural economy.

Following debate, councillors approved planning permission.