On Tuesday morning councillors on the Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee will undertake a site visit in Newtonhill.
We will be looking at the area to the south of the village where Barratts hope to build houses and flats.
Barratts have put forward a masterplan – which is what we are considering, not the actual planning application – and the visit will give councillors a better understanding of what the company has in mind.
A decision will be made at a future meeting of the area committee.
I thought Chaperton of Elsick was to cover all housing needs until at least 2023. Why are you even considering such an application. Just reject it and tell them to speak to the Chapelton folk. Sick to death of Barratts, Stewart Milne and all the other developers who just want profit from anywhere near Aberdeen.
Local authorities are obliged by law to consider such matters – they don’t have any discretion. So that’s why we are considering it.
Chapelton was only one of a number of areas in Kincardine and Mearns that were zoned for housing in the previous local development plan.
However I cannot discuss the merits or otherwise of live planning applications (including this one) before it is appropriate to do so in the council chamber. If I express an opinion before that point, I then have to withdraw from the decision-making process, or face consequences. An Aberdeenshire councillor is currently suspended from some duties for six months for falling foul of planning law.