A few things worth reporting from Aberdeenshire Council’s infrastructure services committee, including a decision to contribute £5.5m towards the Aberdeen harbour expansion.
The benefits to Aberdeenshire of the £350m expansion will be from larger oil and gas vessels being able to dock and from the arrival of cruise ships bringing tourists to the area. It should generate an additional £966m to the economy by 2036 and create 2500 jobs.
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/…/well-back-our-promises…/
Other points of interest:
– Councillors supported a policy review which will consider cutting speed limits in communities to 20mph, for safety reasons.
– The conversion of street lights to LED has resulted in a 10% reduction in energy consumption, despite there now being more lampposts as a result of new developments. We are in the third year of a five-year programme.
– Council officers are reviewing the high hedges application process after a Scottish Government reporter overturned their decision about a 25 ft leylandii hedge in Portsoy. A neighbour appealed to the government after council officers turned down a request for intervention to have the height reduced.
– Some 43.5% of household waste collected by the council is recycled, way below target. The Press and Journal had an excellent article yesterday (Wednesday), pointing out that while some people have to use food banks, many others are throwing out packaged foods (and some dumping it in the landfill bin rather than the food recycling caddy). https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/…/food-mountain-of-waste…/