Locally, the most significant issue at Aberdeenshire Council’s infrastructure services committee in Inverurie today was where to build a major supermarket in Stonehaven. The answer seems to be nowhere.

Here is the background.

The local councillors on Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee did not accept the planning officer’s recommendation that the recreation site be zoned for a supermarket in the local development plan. One Stonehaven councillor – Peter Bellarby – was in favour but could not find a seconder. The other councillors present agreed that the best site for a supermarket would be at Mains of Cowie. Not Stewart Milne’s proposals for 400 houses, but just a decent-sized supermarket.

That outcome went forward to today’s meeting of the infrastructure services committee. I am a member of that committee too.

Fellow local councillor Carl Nelson and I put forward the view of the Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee that this site be included in the local development plan. The supermarket would be tucked up beside the railway line. However we were outvoted by 9 votes to 2.

The outcome is that no site is now earmarked for a major supermarket in Stonehaven.

All the councillors on today’s committee had been lobbied by Stonehaven residents who were opposed to the proposal. As they were entitled to do.

To be clear, the recreation grounds are not zoned for a supermarket either.

What happens next is anybody’s guess. No doubt the developers who have various sites in mind around the town will put their point of view to the Scottish Government’s reporter (a civil servant) who will make the final decision. That’s the way it works.

For those who are not avid followers of the council’s planning processes, the local development plan is the key document against which alll planning applications are judged. It is far more difficult to get a planning application approved if the land in question is not zoned for what you want to do.

Turning to a different matter now, I raised the question of whether the council would reapply for grant funding from Sustrans for a cycle path cum walkway between Muchalls and Stonehaven beside the A90. Although other projects had all been given the go-ahed, this would didn’t make it in a recent funding round.

I am pleased to say that the answer was soundly “yes”. Officers will assess why the last bid failed and polish the next application when the opportunity arises.

Also being mentioned at the meeting were pressure for a Newtonhill Station (still a long way off), and a park and ride beside the A90 at the Findon interchange.