Over the past few months travellers on the Upper Victoria route to the A92 road will have been aware of considerable earthworks in the neighbouring fields at Pitskelly Farm.

In accordance with the land allocations made in the Angus Local Development Plan (2016) and a planning approval in principle, the land will provide for the future housing and business development needs of Carnoustie and South Angus. A business park will be established by D J Laing Homes Ltd while the housing will be a joint venture project with Persimmon Homes.

As part of the conditions associated with the planning permission in principle a number of major consultancy studies are now nearing completion. These include noise, air pollution, landscaping, roads, drainage and engineering works as well as the archaeological work being undertaken by consultant AOC Archaeology Group from Midlothian. The outcome of all the consultancy projects will support a detailed planning application for the housing and business park to be made in late summer this year.

Karen Nicoll, managing director of D J Laing Homes, said: “This project has been in the pipeline for the past 6 years so we are delighted that the consultancy studies are now nearing completion and will support the current planning conditions and enable full planning approval for over 200 houses and a new business park to come forward. It represents a substantial commitment by D J Laing Homes to both Carnoustie and Angus.”

Project manager Voigt Architects stated: “This major development will provide new mainstream and much needed affordable housing in South Angus but of equal importance will be the delivery of a new business/industrial development area with direct access to the A92 road network, increasing opportunity for existing businesses within the town and also attracting new inward investment to Carnoustie and Angus.”

The archaeologists have spent many weeks looking for buried historical evidence and to date have discovered established mixed field boundaries and settlement activities and enclosures ranging from prehistoric to medieval periods.

AOC spokesperson Lindsay Dunbar said: “As excavations over the last few years at Carnoustie, specifically at David Moyes Road a kilometre or so from our site have shown there is potential for truly amazing archaeology to be uncovered.  Here at Upper Victoria we have found more evidence for the long lived and continual occupation of this part of the Angus coastline with the remains from the Late Neolithic through to the Post Medieval period.  We still have another few weeks of work left on site and we are hopeful that even more exciting structures, features and artefacts will be revealed and excavated.”

Once the archaeological investigations are complete at the end of June, all findings will be recorded, recovered and handed over to Aberdeenshire Council Archaeological Service which acts as archaeological curators for Angus Council.

On completion of the archaeological report the civil engineering works will commence with offsite service works (electric, gas, water and sewers, etc) including onsite groundworks (roads, sewers and foundations, etc) followed by construction of both housing and business park development sites.