Court order lifted on Ross holiday village

A COURT has thrown out an interdict against plans for an eco tourism development in Ross-shire.

Ullapool-based Becky Thomson, owner of Escape Lodge Ltd, was recently granted full planning permission for an eco lodge for 20 guests and thatched cottages on a former forestry site in Dundonnell Glen in Wester Ross.

But Gordon Crawford, the Jersey-based owner of the nearby 6,000-acre Eilean Darach Estate, raised a legal action to prevent the project from going ahead.

The interdict stopped Ms Thomson developing the eco lodge and thatched cottages in a way that would adversely increased surface water run-off to the estate.

But at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, judge Lady Smith said she would have the interdict recalled and told the court that the developer accepted there would be increased run-off, and that a sustainable drainage system must be provided.

Welcoming the move, Caithness, Sutherland and Ross MSP Rob Gibson said: "I was always a bit sceptical for the reasons behind the interdict.

"The eco lodge venture is a good idea which will help bring economic value to the area. I trust that the development will be a draw to the area."

Ms Thomson wants to give tourists an "immersion in nature" experience in Dundonnell. She plans to recreate traditional thatched houses similar to those abandoned in the Highland Clearances. The cottages were to be built by hand as a visitor activity using thatch and stone walling skills.

Around 1840, 20 families of about 128 people were cleared from Dundonnell and Eilean Darach land.