Future of city in hands of residents

plans for major expansion of Aberdeen over the next 13 years put to the public

By Calum Ross

Published:

Aberdeen residents have been urged to take their chance to influence plans for the most significant expansion of the city since the arrival of North Sea oil.

Local authority planning officials yesterday told citizens the next two months represent their best opportunity to have their say on the future growth of the city.

Ambitious proposals to expand the size of Aberdeen by about a quarter over the next 13 years – with some 25,000 new homes planned for sites across the city by 2023 – go out for public consultation from next Friday.

An overhaul of planning rules led to developers lodging 126 bids with the council for potential housing and business developments earlier this year.

Planning officials have now judged 48 of them to be “desirable” or “preferable” to go forward for inclusion in the city’s next local development plan and the public will be given their say at a series of meetings over the next two months.

Speaking to the Press and Journal yesterday, the council’s development plan team leader Gale Beattie called on the city’s “silent majority” to come forward and engage in the future of Aberdeen.

“We will be using everybody’s comments to pre- pare a proposed plan,” she said.

“That’s why it’s really important people make their responses to the ‘main issues’ report because after that the scope for us to change it is limited. It’s not just about objecting – if people see something they like then they should say so.”

Included in the bids proposed to go forward to the next stage is a new community stadium for Aberdeen Football Club and up to 2,000 homes at Loirston Loch, as well as 800 homes and a hotel at Stoneywood Estate, 7,000 homes at Whitestripes, 1,000 homes at Craibstone and 2,000 at Countesswells.

The recently adopted structure plan for the region envisages 36,000 homes being built in the city by 2030.

Senior planner Fraser Clyne said: “Doing nothing is not an option – we have to find sites capable of accommodating that number of houses, sites that are developable. We can’t guarantee that 25,000 homes will be built in that period but we have to plan for it. We’re taking a longer-term view now than we have for a long time.”

Drop-in sessions and workshops will be run between 6pm and 9pm at Airyhall Primary (November 2), Aberdeen Town House (November 9), Milltimber Primary (11th), Stoneywood Primary (16th), Altens Community Centre (18th), Cults Community Centre (19th), Scotstown Primary (23rd), Kingswells Primary (24th), Culter Primary (25th – to be confirmed) and Mastrick Community Centre on December 1.

Consultation runs until December 11.