A major housing project in Peterhead that was approved by councillors last year will have to be ruled on again after its road layout changed.
Claymore Homes wants to build 210 new homes in the Wester Clerkhill area of the port.
It is the next phase of the housebuilder’s Greenacres scheme which already has 125 properties.
But there is no space provision either for retailers or public works of art.
The Peterhead firm has revised how the road network will link into the development and submitted fresh plans.
A masterplan for the neighbourhood on the western edge of the town suggests that any proposal for the land should include either shop units or an art initiative.
But Stephen Archer, director of infrastructure services, told councillors that no letters of objection were received from the public and that the project should be supported.
In his report last year, he said: “It is considered that the proposed layout accords with the general aims and objectives of the masterplan, providing adequate public open space linked by a network of green corridors.”
A letter from the applicant explained there had been a decline in interest in retail units in the town.
Work at Wester Clerkhill has already been disrupted by archaeological finds.
While building homes, workmen stumbled upon an ancient broad blade which researchers believe was created in the Palaeolithic era last November.
Council archaeologist Bruce Mann hailed the find.
“This tool pushes the evidence of human activity here in Aberdeenshire back potentially another 2,000 years,” he said.
