During the stushie after Aberdeenshire Council’s infrastructure services committee voted against Aberdeen football club’s plans for a new stadium between Westhill and Kingswells, I was asked whether Westhill was built in the greenbelt. That’s because one of the grounds councillors (including me) had for the decision was that the new stadium would be in the greenbelt.
Well, it took some digging by council officers to find out, including contacting some of the council’s most senior planners of the time. The conclusion: Westhill was not in the greenbelt when it was established.
Here is the background. It appears that “Greenbelt” was designated by the Scottish Government by regulation prior to the 1978 Aberdeen Area Structure Plan. This designation was very limited until responsibility was taken by Grampian Regional Council to “indicate a zone” which should be precisely defined by district councils in the preparation of the local plans of the early 1980s.
Westhill was already a substantial and growing community by this time with a census population of 258 in 1971 and a predicted population of more than 3000 by 1981. Planning for Westhill was not undertaken by a development plan in the period from its first consent in 1963 to the start of construction in 1967 but by an “Article 8” direction from the Scottish Ministers.
Westhill was substantially distant from the boundary of Aberdeen City (Kingswells had not been built) and was not part of any greenbelt prior to the 1981 Gordon District Local Plan. Thereafter it was built on a planned basis, by altering the greenbelt boundary (or departing from the development plan greenbelt policy) as required.
Of course the final decision on whether the football stadium goes ahead is down to Aberdeen City Council as the development is on their side of the boundary.