PLANS for a new social housing development in Arrochar will be unveiled later this month – more than two and a half years after planners gave the green light to the scheme.

Dunbritton Housing Association (DHA) plans to start work on building 26 homes on a site at Glen Loin in Succoth in the next few weeks – and the properties should be ready to welcome their first tenants a year and a half from now.

An information event will be held in the Three Villages Hall on Thursday, January 26 between 3pm and 7pm, giving people living in the area the chance to find out more about the development.

Planning permission for the project was granted in May 2014, but DHA’s asset manager, Callum Smith, said the scheme had stalled because of the infrastructure costs involved.

Mr Smith told the Advertiser: “This project has been on the table for years, but we are now estimating a start date of late January or, more likely, early February.

“There have been so many false dawns in relation to this project that we don’t want to make a promise to people that we can’t keep.”

Mr Smith said the project was now back on track because of a change in the Scottish Government’s approach to funding social housing in rural areas.

“Housing developments in rural communities are difficult for a whole lot of reasons,” he continued.

“A big part of that is because in numerous rural locations, not just Arrochar, the cost of infrastructure work makes housing development prohibitive.

“But the Scottish Government increased grants for rural locations last year to allow developments of this nature to go ahead.

“We were then able to reconsider the costings of the project.”

Planning permission was granted in 2014 subject to several conditions, including improvements to the junction between the road to Succoth and the A83 trunk route which runs through Arrochar.

That condition required DHA to buy a piece of land from a private owner to enable the A83 to be widened and a turning lane created.

Mr Smith said an agreement had now been reached over the purchase of the land, with DHA borrowing the private funds required.

DHA also has an option to build a further ten units on the site, but that is unlikely to happen without an agreement with the same private land owner to widen the whole of the access road

Ten members of the public objected to the original planning application, citing concerns around over-development of the area, traffic movements, increased noise, flooding and drainage issues, and the impact on wildlife.

Ronnie Ross, convener of Arrochar, Tarbet and Ardlui Community Council, said: “The opportunity for locals to apply for housing should not be understated, and anyone considering applying should do so as soon as the process becomes available.”

Community council secretary Mary Haggarty added: “The community council welcome more housing that will accommodate young families that we need to support the facilities we have here in our villages, such as the local primary school and doctor’s surgery. However, it would have been better if a more accessible site had been sought.”