THE Scottish Government has called in plans to build a harness racing track at the Bannockburn battlefield site.
Ministers made clear their decision to take control over the planning application in a letter published on the Scottish Government's Planning and Environmental Appeals Division website on Wednesday afternoon.
The letter says ministers noted concerns around the "potential impact on [a] designated battlefield of national significance". Ministers also cited a potential impact on the Bannockburn Rotunda.
Stirling Council – which is run by a Labour/Tory administration – controversially approved the development last month.
The decision was met with fury by campaigners and by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS), which said it may seek a judicial review of the decision if the application is not refused by the Government.
The NTS said it was not initially notified as a neighbour about the plans and had limited time to share its "extensive" concerns.
The organisation said the proposal will “fundamentally alter the experience of the site”.
It is understood that when the NTS did eventually have chance to comment on the plans, the council claimed this had been submitted too late to be factored into the report, prior to it being presented to the first meeting of the planning committee in May.
It took a casting vote from the Tory chair of the council planning committee, Rachel Nunn, to push the application through last month with councillors split down the middle on the proposals.
It was decided after an initial meeting in May that a site visit needed to be carried out by the planning committee.
But even though two members of the committee were not able to attend the site visit, a decision was made anyway, a move SNP councillor Scott Farmer said he did not agree with.
He branded the decision "perverse" said there were "serious questions" over its legal validity.
The plans were lodged by a Mr H Muirhead for the land west of New Line Road and south of Fairhill Road.
The site is around 8.7 hectares in size – about 14 football fields – and is currently green field agricultural land.
The application proposes erecting a trotting track and a building to be used for toilets and a bar and takeaway for hot food and drink.
Competitor and spectator vehicular paths/footpaths would also be built as well as parking areas.
There is a history of harness racing in the area. Corbiewood Stadium in Bannockburn had been home to the Scottish harness racing community since 1966 but it was demolished in 2022 to make way for a housing development.
The sport is a form of horse racing where a two-wheeled cart or chariot is pulled by a horse.
The Battle of Bannockburn, fought in June 1314, famously saw Robert the Bruce and the Scots defeat the English troops led by King Edward II.
