We have approved full Planning Permission with various conditions attached to it.  We have completed most work towards Building Warrant but require a Compensatory Planting Plan acceptance by HC planners before we are allowed to remove some bushes/trees to access the house sites with a digger to finalise details of foundations specification.  (That CPP has recently been submtted to HC planners.) This will also allow completion of the Bill of Quantities to allow construction tendering.   

However, the most recent cost estimate is around £6.2 million, which is considered an unfeasibly high cost.  This cost includes rebuild of the HC-adopted access road with added footpath.  We also recently found that we require 12 months of watercourse flow monitoring, and if that finds flow is too low, SEPA will not allow our private sewage treatment with final water dscharge into that nearby watercourse.  An alternative would be pumped sewage along the road route and to SW treatment plant in Lochinver but the construction cost of that is considered unfeasibly expensive.

HC are considering possible ways to reduce the road / path works cost element which may be around £0.6 million.

We are seeking grant funding towards:

- further design team work, including additional civil/structural engineer cost for completion of the Road Constructn Consent process, which has already used up all the funded/quoted engineer work which had been reasonably expeced for that element

- the actual construction costs

The project is important for addressing depopulation especially of young and working age population.

We have evidence of housing demand and community support for the project.

We had hoped to be able to start the road/path works as a standalone enabling project in winter 26/27 but expect that will have t be delayed.

We have discussed an option of HC development dept investing in the project, by way of a mechanism of HC purchasing the site, running the build project, then leasing the houses/site back to ADT, for ADT to then manage tenancies with local letting criteria used, which HC alone couldn't do.