Councillors have told health chiefs they will support the creation of affordable housing at Aberdeen’s flagship hospital – but only if the proposals are scaled back.
The offer, drawn up by city council planning chiefs to end a dispute over privacy and loss of green space, was backed by the planning committee yesterday.
NHS Grampian has argued that building 110 flats on the Foresterhill site was key to its drive to attract desperately-needed medical staff.
Priority for the properties – which would form part of the Grampian Housing Association portfolio – would go to public sector “key workers”.
The council backs efforts to ease the current recruitment crisis, but insisted the existing blueprint to replace nursing accommodation was unacceptable.
Planning chiefs recommended the entire project be thrown out after the health board refused to compromise on the plans, which require the felling of a number of trees at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
However, they suggested the green light could still be given if one block of nine flats was dropped – saving former allotments from development – and another reshaped to protect neighbours’ privacy.
Senior planning officer Nicholas Lawrence claimed this was a “pragmatic” solution and the authority had a duty to seek a way forward.
He added: “We are not against this on principle, we just want the right development, not this loss of green space.”
Members backed the approach – with only ward councillor Bill Cormie urging rejection of the proposal – so residents could be consulted on the new look.
Residents complained the scheme was sold to them as being exclusively for NHS staff, but that it would in fact be open to any tenants of the housing association if unfilled by key workers.
Concerned locals who attended the meeting also asserted the area would not be able to sustain the extra traffic that would be generated – though traffic chiefs said they did not anticipate any problems.
And they disputed suggestions the disused allotments had only been used by hospital patients.
Just days before the meeting, NHS Grampian promised to plant hundreds of new trees and improve green spaces elsewhere the campus.
A health board spokesman said: “Providing accommodation for vital health workers remains a key part of our strategy to tackle the recruitment challenges we are facing.
“We note today’s decision and the project team will now study the significant alterations that councillors have required and their potential impact on the proposed development.”
