PLANS for an “unashamedly contemporary” house for fashion designer Stella McCartney have been met with more than 50 objections.
The 52-year-old, the daughter of Beatles legend Paul McCartney, is looking to erect a coastal property at Glenuig at Commando Rock, south of Arisaig.
In a planning application, McCartney’s architects say the glass-fronted home would enhance the landscape and “retain the wild nature of the site”.
However, many local people have expressed their alarm about the potential disturbance of otters, the proposed felling of Scots pines, and the prevention of access to a local beach.
Highland Council have received more than 50 public objections to the plans, which were submitted in the name of McCartney’s husband, Alasdhair Willis.
Sam Seccombe, one of the objectors, said: “It would set a bad precedent, that anyone with enough money could buy up unspoilt and extremely beautiful land and then build enormous dwellings that would likely remain unused for most of the year.”
Many objected to the proposed felling of five of the site’s 15 mature Scots pine trees to make way for the new house.
Objector Kevin Hewkin from Lochailort wrote: “The removal of some of the existing Scots pines is an outrageous suggestion.
“The whole country is in a process of trying to get these magnificent, natural trees to regenerate, yet here the application wants to go against this initiative.”
Local LibDem councillor Angus MacDonald said in his objection: “If one-third are removed it would increase the chance of windblow on the remainder.”
In a design statement for the house, McCartney’s architects, Brown and Brown, said: “Privacy is of prime import to the applicant, which was a chief reason why they acquired the site.”
However, an environmental health officer for Highland council said the “perceived privacy” of the site was “contradicted by a history of public access”.
He recommended the council draw up an “access management statement” on how a local bay would be reached if the plan went ahead.
The design statement says McCartney and Willis “wish to create a home which sits comfortably within the wider area, whilst also creating a contemporary house which could be largely heated by passive solar gain and which utilises appropriate renewables”.
It says the house would be built from “rough cut natural Scottish stone, forming a complementary language with areas of dark grey board marked concrete and a section of Corten weathering steel of an ochre colour, which would pick up the colours of the landscape”.
It would also have a planted roof seeded with grasses and heather.
The council’s planning committee is expected to discuss the application in the coming months.
