Stella McCartney’s plans for remote Scottish home stir controversy

Plans for an “unashamedly contemporary” house for the fashion designer Stella McCartney in a remote Scottish coastal area have received dozens of objections on environmental grounds.

In a planning application, McCartney’s architects say the glass-fronted home near Roshven on the west coast would enhance the landscape and “retain the wild nature of the site”.

Many local people, however, strongly disagree and 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 has received more than 50 public objections to the scheme, which was submitted in the name of McCartney’s husband, Alasdhair Willis. Many criticise the appearance of the building, which is variously described as a scar, eyesore, carbuncle and a blot on the landscape.

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 then build enormous dwellings that would likely remain unused for most of the year.”

Most objected to the proposed felling of five of the site’s 15 mature Scots pine trees to make way for a new house for McCartney, who has campaigned against deforestation.

Another objector, Kevin Hewkin from nearby 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.”

The trees are a “distinct landscape feature”, according to Angus MacDonald, a local Liberal Democrat councillor. In his objection he wrote: “If one-third are removed it would increase the chance of windblow on the remainder.”

Karen White, a previous owner of the site, said a family of otters bred on its headland and that the building work could disturb the animals. Several other objectors also expressed fears for the otter holt.

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.” The firm also said the site was accessed from a “private track”.

But 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.

Another objector, Sula Michie Marnoch, said she had spent much of her childhood playing in the bay below the planned house. “I fear that if these places are taken away, I will be lost,” she wrote.

The site was used for commando training during the second world war, and was also an inspiration for the Victorian artist Jemima Blackburn.

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.

McCartney’s spokesperson has been approached for comment.