Planning

THE year has involved more input and more difficult choices for Culter Community Council (CCC) than usual because of the Local Plan, which will set what the developers will be allowed to do in Aberdeen City over the next five years.

Following two separate appeals to the Scottish Executive, we also have had to prepare for visits and hearings by Reporters from the Scottish Executive Inquiry Reporters Unit (SEIRU) in Falkirk.

The first appeal dealt with 105 Malcolm Road by a site visit to the house and the surrounding area in August, as well as assessing all the papers put in by the appellant, the Planning Dept, Roads Dept, CCC etc. all giving their points of view. In my absence, Doug Stewart was present to answer, on CCC's behalf, any questions by the Reporter. In the end, the Reporter agreed with the Planning Dept's advice and the Planning Committee's decision NOT to permit a house to be built in the garden of 105 Malcolm Road. CCC received a copy of the Reporter's very full and wide-ranging 5-page report on how the decision was reached.

The second appeal, dealing with Rob Roy Caravan Park is still in the process and the Reporter, in this case, has decided on a hearing to be held in Norwood Hall Hotel on 23rd November 2005 - as well as a site visit. As in the appeal described above, the Reporter will assess all the `cases' made in papers presented to him, ask questions and also do a site visit. I shall be attending on behalf of CCC but anyone interested can sit at the back of the room and listen.

The Local Plan continues on through its long, laborious legal process. At this time, we are dealing with changes the Planning Department is negotiating with objectors. In our case, this is the small business/ commercial park proposed at the junction of the Shoddy Road and Malcolm Road. The Planning Dept is now proposing that this business opportunity should be withdrawn because of a large number of objections (over 60) made by local residents on Malcolm Road - particularly because of road safety considerations, as well as being in the Green Belt.

As I explained in the August Courier, CCC supported the proposed business opportunity as it would help Culter retain a sustainable, viable community and not be reduced to another dormitory suburb of Aberdeen. We did qualify our support, however, by saying that it had to go hand-­in-hand with road improvements to the whole of Malcolm Road including/ especially the junction with North Deeside Road. In our discussions with Aberdeen City Council, the Roads Dept had suggested that the Roads Depot at The Bush would be an `ideal' business site IF the access to it came by extending the cul-de-sac at the end of Dalmaik Terrace/Crescent into the back of the Depot! The members of CCC rejected this suggestion out of hand because:

• It would draw business traffic through a housing estate;

• We need to keep the purpose-built Roads Depot for its intended purpose ensuring we at least have our roads cleared and sanded in winter (if not always repaired!)

The other site the Planning Dept had considered was the small field to the east of Pittengullies Road between North Deeside Road and the old Railway Line. Again we are looking at a site adjacent to housing, as in Malcolm Road, but vehicle access may be less constrained as Pittengullies Brae was well used by builders' lorries when Moncur's Yard existed down by the gates to Camphill.

At the extended (until 10.30pm!!) meetings of CCC in September and October, about 10-14 residents from Malcolm Road attended and participated in the lively discussions on the best way forward. Their main concern was that they would not have a chance (as the letters they had received from Aberdeen City Council seemed to suggest) to put their case against the business park at the Public Local Inquiry in February 2006, when CCC would be opposing its removal from the Local Plan.

I was puzzled by this but advice from the Planning Dept's leading legal representative to the Public Inquiry was that we could all register at the Pre­inquiry meeting on 15 November in the Cowdray Hall, Aberdeen, and ask to put our various cases in writing or by writing and speaking.

During these extended CCC meetings, other possible sites were put forward from the floor (e.g. somewhere in the Kennerty area or even Anguston) and our local councillor asked if we were prepared to look outside Culter e.g. Milltimber. In the end, the members of CCC agreed to:

• Register at the Pre-inquiry meeting;

• Defend the Malcolm Road site IF conditions were applied to upgrade Malcolm Road;

• Propose the field at the east end of Culter as an alternative;

• Discuss the other alternatives bearing in mind accessability

• Ask for further discussions with the Planning Dept.

Ending on a lighter note, I was pleased to see the proposed plans for 33 flats for varying housing needs (mainly sheltered) at the junction of School Road and

Coronation Road being brought for consultation to the `Your Culter Day' (1 st October) in the Village Hall even before the site is confirmed in the Local Plan! To date, no one has come to us in opposition to these plans so, when they do come forward for formal planning permission, the members of CCC will not be opposing but welcoming them.

Lavina C Massie Planning Liaison Officer