Landowner tells of disappointment at AWPR decision
Plan for new Sainsbury’s store at Stonehaven scuppered by bypass route
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The owner of land tipped for a Sainsbury’s store at Stonehaven has said he was “bitterly disappointed” that the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) would stop the project from going ahead.
The supermarket chain revealed plans for a £23million branch in the town in March, promising to create 220 jobs.
The proposed site of the 55,000sqft supermarket – an area known as field 52, sandwiched between the A90 Aberdeen-Dundee road and the railway line – will be split by the new bypass, however.
The site’s owners, brothers David and Robert Strang Steel, had submitted an alternative plan for the Stonehaven junction of the AWPR, which would have cost £3.3million more than the one location proposed by Transport Scotland.
The route approved last week by Scottish ministers means their site is no longer available for development.
David Strang Steel said: “We’re bitterly disappointed.
“They have said they are going ahead with the original junction rather than our alternative and the effect is that we are not going to be able to put the supermarket into field 52.
“We are looking at what our other options are available.
“As things stand, Transport Scotland will have to compensate us for land-locking our field,” he added.
Sainsbury’s had agreed to buy the nine-acre plot only if the supermarket was given the go-ahead.
Mr Strang Steel said the project had the backing of the community council, neighbouring residents and “effectively” Aberdeenshire Council, which granted a certificate of appropriate development earlier this year to say a supermarket could be build on the site.
He claimed a hotel, sports facilities and a park-and-ride depot could also have been built on the land if the government had favoured the alternative junction.
Stonehaven community council chairman David Fleming said: “This was a bad decision. It is hugely disappointing that no proper consideration has been given to the wishes of Stonehaven people.
“There’s a huge need for another supermarket in Stonehaven. It would keep the grocery expenditure in the town whereas at the moment 60% of it leaves the town.”
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MSP Mike Rumbles said: “I'm extremely disappointed for the local communities. I think that it is the wrong junction.
“The opportunity was there to change it and we have been completely ignored. I'm bitterly disappointed.”
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