Councillors have unanimously refused controversial plans to "extend" a quarry just over a mile south west of Blairgowrie.
Laird Aggregates Ltd applied to Perth and Kinross Council to expand Marlee Quarry at Essendy by almost 30 hectares in order to extract 1.1 million tonnes of sand and gravel.
While the application was recommended for approval by Perth and Kinross Council officers, it drew strong local opposition.
PKC received 103 objections. Reasons for objection included: visual impact, the scale of the development, noise, road safety, loss of agricultural land and the potential adverse impact on neighbouring residents' lungs from inhaling crystalline silica from the dust.
PKC's Planning and Placemaking Committee met on Wednesday, November 23 to consider the plans.
The current quarry sits just south of B947. Permission was sought to "extend" the quarry on land 750 metres north east of the existing quarry and across the road. It would sit southwest of Leys of Marlee Farm and east of Palace Road. The proposal was for quarried material to be hauled from the new extraction area and processed at the existing quarry.
The plans were not welcomed locally.
Blairgowrie and Glens Conservative councillor Caroline Shiers told the committee: "There are many hundreds of residents who are very concerned about the proposal and also the community council. You will note the significant number of objections far more than for any other ward three application in a very long time."
Cllr Shiers said she had been contacted by "countless residents" concerned about the impact on the "very beautiful site".
She said: "I'm afraid I don't see it as an extension as - as one resident said - you or I could not could not build a house on the other side of a road and call it an extension."
Wester Essendy resident and Blairgowrie and Glens SNP councillor Tom McEwan told the committee he was not included in the consultation.
He said: "I wasn't included in the consultation because I'm not a resident but guess what? I am."
Concerned about road safety, he said: "This is a cycle and walking route. To get to Dunkeld from Blairgowrie and avoid the busy A-class roads this is the way you go. To then have these crossings and extra traffic will either make it undesirable to do that or make it dangerous."
Palace Road resident and objector Tim Baynes said the new quarry was "very different in character" from the existing site.
He said: "It's open fields which can be seen from all around compared to the existing quarry which is tucked away in the valley bottom. The existing quarry is screened by a mature belt of trees about 30 metres wide. By comparison the applicants have only planted four or five rows of saplings at best about 10 metres wide between Palace Road and the site. Half of these are deciduous which provide no screening in winter.
"The people living on Palace Road are mainly elderly and they're inevitably going to be affected by it as the new boundary will only be about 60 feet [18 metres] from our back doors."
William Booth - who spoke on behalf of the applicant Laird Aggregates Ltd - argued operations would be "at least 90 to 100 metres away from properties". The boundary - an eight-foot high bund - would be around 20 metres from Palace Road homes.
He said their consultation "went beyond" what they were required to do and added: "Marlee has been operating for about 20 years without any real complaints from local residents and without any real traffic issues."
He said the application to extend the quarry was due to sand and gravel "becoming more scarce" with asphalt sand supplied to Tayside Contracts and grit to both Fife and Perth and Kinross.
Councillors were told there would be less quarrying and road movements than previously and work would be done over five phases over the course of 15/16 years. Mr Booth explained they wanted to give local residents "certainty" of what their plans were "rather than submitting several planning applications".
The applicant calculated there would be eight HGVs crossing the road on a daily basis transporting 30 tonnes at a time and the annual amount quarried would be less.
Mr Booth said: "Previously planning permission allowed them to work up to 250,000 tonnes. In reality they've probably been working in the region of 150,000 to 225,000 over that 25-year period. It will now be 75,000 is what we are proposing."
In terms of archaeological concerns he said the areas of archaeological significance had "all been avoided".
Blairgowrie and Glens councillor Bob Brawn moved for refusal primarily citing health concerns. He argued it contravened planning policy that "nothing must be detrimental to residential amenity".
He said: "The health and wellbeing of people is paramount. Crystalline silica is serious if it gets into your lungs. We must err on the side of caution."
Strathtay Conservative councillor Ian James seconded. The plans were unanimously refused.
