A legal action begins in the Court of Session tomorrow to try to overturn planning consent for a fish farm which is already operating on a famous Highland sea loch.
A year ago councillors in Argyll and Bute unanimously approved the plans for Loch Etive north of Oban, submitted by Dawnfresh Seafoods for a 10 cage farm at Sailean Ruadh. The company is owned by Alastair Salvesen, one of the Christian Salvesen shipping family.
But the campaign group Friends of Loch Etive is still fighting the development and is set to challenge it in court. However if the court upholds the council's handling of the application, the group may be may be liable for the authority's legal expenses.
Keith Macmillan, who is a landowner on the south of the loch near Taynuilt is a trustee of the Friends of Loch Etive.
He said "We have petitioned the Court of Session for a judicial review of the planning permission, in particular to the section 75 conditions. Fundamentally the issue is that at the public hearing the council agreed that planning consent be granted subject to this section 75 list of conditions, which was to be signed by the council, Dawnfresh and the Crown Estate. But the Crown Estate declined to sign it."
He said the legal advice was that the group had a good case. He said the group had nearly 300 members, who were opposed to Danwfresh adding to the five fish farms they already operated on the loch. Surveys had shown the high levels of local opposition to the development which was in one of the most beautiful parts of the loch.he said
But a spokesman for Argyll and Bute Council said: "The council is committed to defending the Planning, Protective Services and Licensing (PPSL) Committee's decision to grant planning approval.''
Meanwhile Dawnfresh has made clear the farm is already "fully operational" and the fish could not be moved anywhere else. The prospect of having the court ordering the fish farm's removal would be "a real mess" the company has said .
The original application attracted 587 objections and 215 expressions of support.
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