Decision due on plans for Savile's Glen Coe cottage

Highland councillors are due to consider plans to demolish and replace a cottage in Glen Coe once owned by Jimmy Savile.

The TV presenter was one of the most notorious paedophiles and sex offenders in UK criminal history.

He owned Allt-na-Reigh in the Ben Nevis and Glen Coe National Scenic Area for about 13 years.

The white-walled cottage has been repeatedly vandalised since Savile's death in his Leeds flat in 2011, and his years of exploiting hundreds of people came to light.

The site's new owner, the family of retail business boss Harris Aslam, have sought planning permission to replace the property with a new home.

Highland Council planning officers have recommended councillors meeting later approve the plans.

It has been proposed to demolish the existing single-storey house and replace it with a new four-bedroom, one-and-a-half storey house, with a two-storey rear section.

The two buildings would be linked by a single storey section with a flat grass roof.

The proposed redevelopment includes honouring another of the cottage's former owners - the celebrated Scottish climber and inventor Dr Hamish MacInnes.

Dr MacInnes, who died in 2020, invented ice axes and also a stretcher that is used by mountain rescue teams all over the world.

Outbuildings where the climber worked on his creations are to be redeveloped as an ancillary dwelling and named Hamish House.

The cottage has been badly vandalised

The property has a long history and over the years it served as a house on a croft and a road workers' cottage.

It is one of only six houses along a 10-mile stretch of the A82 through Glen Coe.

In a report, council officials said: "The property has been subject to vandalism and graffiti directed towards a former owner and is now in a very poor state.

"Aside from the negativity arising from the former owner, there are also very positive local associations to the property relating to the respected mountaineer who once owned the property."

Glencoe and Glen Etive Community Council has not objected to the proposals.

Officials said the group had requested action be taken as soon as possible to demolish the cottage because it was now a health and safety risk.