Some difficult decisions today at the Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee, including ones affecting Portlethen.
– New school roll forecasts were presented which showed the impact of Hillside primary school which is due to open next session. The rolls for the five local primaries in 2018 are expected to be Hillside: 335, Portlethen: 269, Fishermoss: 253, Banchory Devenick: 55, and Newtonhill: 415. The temporary accommodation at Portlethen will be removed. we heard that officers are looking for an out-of-school provider at Hillside. The Newtonhill figure takes it to the school’s capacity figure, because of the influx of Chapelton pupils. It will eventually have its own school.
– A report on the health of town centres included Portlethen for the first time. Unsurprisingly it found that Portlethen has a very limited amount of retailing provision and a weakness of not having a clear town centre. A vacant unit (General George) presents an opportunity for the town centre to provide a different type of retailing that is currently not provided for. It has a significant lack of resources compared to other town centre.
– Portlethen Allotment group has been held up with progress after being awarded a grant earlier this year from the area top-up budget. It is hoped that this can flow through to the coming financial year. The budget has been doubled to £104,500 for 2016/17 though the criteria has changed and “requires clear evidence of community economic development”.
– The roads maintenance programme for the coming year was agreed. Of particular interest locally were improvements to Muirend Road and Bruntland Road in Portlethen. I also raised the need for a path and cycle way between Checkbar and Charleston in Aberdeen. I was assured it is an aspiration, though a long-term one.
– The media headlines no doubt will focus on the committee’s support for the Ury golf course and 90 five-bedroom homes around Ury House. It is a prestigious development, being compared to Gleneagles given its Jack Nicklaus branding. However it will be partially on ancient woodland which led officers to recommend refusal. The final decision will be made by full council.
– We turned down a retrospective planning application for a travellers’ site at St Cyrus. The committee did not support the application as the site is on the flood plain. The final decision will be made by full council.
– Finally, we approved plans for short-term let apartments at Marywell.