Greenbelt plan for Scottish woodland

A plan to pilot an eco-friendly housing scheme using timber as a building material goes before planners in the Highlands this month.

The scheme, forwarded by the Forestry Commission, is designed to create eco-communities by reviving the ancient tradition of people living in the forest, the BBC reports.

Its plan is to create a 32-home eco-village in Kilnhill Wood near the town of Nairn, which will use low-energy construction and utilise timber as a building material.

Forestry Commission spokesman Phil Whitefield told the BBC the organisation was interested in the idea of people residing "intimately" with trees.

"Living in a forest, as opposed to some landscaping around a housing development, is really where this idea came from."

However, the plans face opposition from local pressure group Friends of Kilnhill Wood, which has claimed that the development will have a negative impact on local wildlife.

In November the group claimed that the development would actually have 40 houses rather than 32, the Forres Gazette reported.


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