The row over new homes at an old asylum site in Dumfries
BBC By Giancarlo Rinaldi
South Scotland reporter, BBC Scotland news website
Plans for hundreds of homes on land near a former mental asylum in Dumfries have provoked major opposition.
The Crichton Trust has developed a masterplan for the Ladyfield area which could see 360 properties built.
It said they would "protect the legacy" of the psychiatric hospital by creating a "caring community" on the site.
However, the project has provoked strong opposition from people living in the area who have raised a string of concerns about its impact.
The proposals
Gwilym Gibbons, chief executive of the Crichton Trust, said the project was about "preserving the heritage" of Elizabeth Crichton whose generosity funded the pioneering mental health facility which opened on the grounds in 1839.
"As a community, we need to do things differently and this includes the need for new, sustainable models of housing development," he said.
He said that included the provision of homes to support people through all stages of life - what they call a 21st Century multi-generational village.
