A masterplan – proposed by Barratts and Polmuir Holdings – for housing to the south of Newtonhill received a dusty hearing at today’s Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee.

Councillors unanimously disagreed that the masterplan was acceptable and disagreed that it should be used as planning advice in the determination of any future planning application.

In straightforward language, that mean the developers were asked to go away to think again. They are also asked to hold a public consultation on what they propose, and to take on board the comments made by councillors. Meanwhile the area committee will have a site visit to better understand the impact housing would have.

I made a number of points setting out my concerns about the impact on the core path from Newtonhill to Muchalls, the incorporation of some green belt into the masterplan, a proposed landscape buffer with the railway line, and so on.

Other councillors – including my three fellow ward councillors – also expressed their concerns about what was being put forward.

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Full planning permission was given for a change of use of agricultural buildings to storage/distribution/industrial use at Gillybrands Farm on the Causeymounth at Cammachmore. One of the conditions is that there will be no use of power tools outwith 8am to 6pm Monday to Saturday. The farm is now only arable and there is no farming need any more for the buildings.

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Full planning permission was refused for a house and biomass shed south west of Cookney Ridge, in line with the planning officer’s recommendation. This would have allowed the timber yard to the east of Cookney to relocate after having lost storage land to the AWPR. As I said at the meeting, unfortunately the proposed site is not the right site.

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Newtonhill resident Morag Andrew has been nominated as an external member of the council’s school placings and exclusions appeal committee.

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I pressed the case for progressing with a cycleway/path between Stonehaven and Aberdeen. I was reassured when strategy manager Mark Skilling assured councillors that it is a priority. I asked that the missing link between Marywell and Charleston along the Old Wellington Road be a priority within that priority. Unfortunately these are long-term project requiring land acquisition, which is not an easy matter.

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An application for a late hours catering licence for Cafe No 6 at the Green in Portlethen was only partly granted. The applicant sought permission to open until 3am. In light of police and other advice, this was restricted to 1am. This matches the opening hours of the nearby Paddock. The application was granted for one year.

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I was disappointed that there was no support from fellow councillors when I tried to retain a public question time in the agenda of area committee meetings. This used to appear near the beginning of meetings, giving residents the opportunity to raise local issues with councillors and officers. The opportunity was only rarely used, however I felt it was important to retain. A governance review across the council led to it being removed from area committee agendas.