The Chapelton liaison meeting tonight heard that 150 houses are now on site, with a further 92 in the pipeline, waiting for the market to come back.
In an update on progress we heard that:
Talks with Aberdeenshire Council are proceeding well for the local authority to adopt the park and choose road, which should result in good street lighting.
All agreements are in place now to proceed with closing the gap in the central reservation at the Bruntland Road junction on the A90 at Portlethen. This would mean that right hand turns across the carriageways would no longer be possible. Some work at the Badentoy flyover would also take place first. It is expected that this will take place in late spring or early summer next year. Eventually an underpass will be built at the Bruntland Road junction. This will take place when there are 1740 houses at Chapelton.
The Chapelton developers are looking into the provision of a defibrillator in the new town.
A retirement village of 82 units is on the cards, being developed by Places for People, which was founded as a housing association and now also owns Zero C which is one of the builders at Chapelton. The retirement properties are apparently “flying like hot cakes”.
The next phases will include 15 allotments, two small parks, and commercials units. There has been interest from vets, a pharmacy, and micro brewery and others.
An emergency access is to be provided to the Cookney/Newtonhill road. It will not be available for general access.
We heard that the Causey Mounth is a private vehicular right of way.
The next meeting between the developers and community representatives will be in November. All three local community councils were present tonight.
What’s the point in building more homes when they can’t sell the ones that are already there? Many of the houses at Chapelton are being rented out.
That’s the risk the developers take. If houses don’t sell, they won’t build more.