Plans for Collieston community hall backed

application to build venue as well as converting properties into flats

By Emma Christie

Published:

Long-awaited plans for a new community hall in a tiny north-east village have been backed by Aberdeenshire Council planning bosses.

Slains and Collieston Community Council hopes to build a hall, cafe and meeting facilities on a landmark headland as well as converting an existing hall and schoolhouse into three flats.

The application comes almost two years after residents of Collieston, near Newburgh, cast votes to decide between two designs for the hall.

In a report to go before the Formartine area committee, head of development management and building standards Raymond Reid explains the site is on a headland to the north of Collieston.

The two-storey hall, designed by Edinburgh-based architects Reiach & Hall, would have a pitched zinc roof and would feature brick and timber facings.

More than 30 letters have been received from locals, with 15 people in support and 18 objecting to the plans.

Those in favour claim the existing hall is not fit for purpose and insist the design would fit in with the landscape. They also say the new facility would serve the growing needs of the community.

But plans for the hall have proved controversial over the past few years, with some villagers claiming the design was too grand for the village and that community leaders had got carried away.

Now critics of the plan have submitted objections relating to the scale, design and materials to be used in the new hall and have raised concerns about subsidence and landslip.

In addition, they question the long-term sustainability of the project and claim late-night noise from functions could cause problems.

Mr Reid, who recommends the plans for approval, attempts to address the concerns in his report for councillors.

He says: “The existing community centre is very small and is therefore not able to fully support the demands of a number of the existing uses such as the playgroup, due to the limited size.

“Although objections have been made in relation to the impact of the proposal on the coastal landscape and setting of Collieston, the planning service considers that the proposal does not impact negatively on the character or the amenity of the surrounding area.”

Mr Reid continues by saying the scale, design and location of the proposed hall is appropriate and says it was “not expected” that late-night events would be very frequent.

The committee will make a decision on the plans on Tuesday of next week.