Councillors have unanimously backed a £150million housing and retail development – despite concerns it will hit traders in surrounding north-east towns.
More than 500 homes are planned for Blackdog, along with a town centre centred around a ‘landmark’ building including a six-screen cinema, hotel, shops and a ‘high-quality’ regional food hall.
The Formartine area committee yesterday agreed unanimously that the planning application should be approved in principle.
Subject to planning permission being granted by the full council meeting in April, the developers plan to submit detailed design proposals in the next few months and start work on site later this year.
Steven McGarva of developer Ashfield Land said it was grateful for the positive recommendation from councillors.
Mr McGarva said: “We are pleased to receive approval from the committee and hope that Aberdeenshire Council will now approve our plans when they meet next month.
“Our aim is to bring a high quality regional food hall to house independent local traders – it will be more Borough Market than a large House of Bruar type.”
Kirkwood Homes land director Allan Rae said: “We will now finalise infrastructure plans and bring the next phase of residential development forward following completion of the AWPR link road to Blackdog.”
The council’s director of infrastructure services Stephen Archer told the committee: “This is no doubt an exciting development. An assessment of the retail proposed has taken place and it is considered that it will not adversely impact any other Aberdeenshire town or Aberdeen City.”
Councillor Paul Johnston voiced concern that the six-screen cinema would attract mainstream food retailers and said: “These places usually have KFC or Nandos next to them.”
But committee chair Rob Merson assured that at this early stage “we aren’t looking at menus just yet”.
The housing application also includes provision for a school or community uses in the south-west of the site, and woodlands.
Land will be set aside on the development for an official gypsy-travellers site and the cycle path planned from Balmedie to Aberdeen will also be incoporated into the scheme.
Earlier this year, an independent retail analysis by Hargest Planning Ltd suggested such a major development could hurt the local economy – with Aberdeen, Ellon and Inverurie being hardest hit.
The application will now go to full council on Thursday, April 27.
