Two issues dominated tonight’s Portlethen community council meeting – the replacement synthetic pitch at the academy and proposals to build thousands of houses around the town.
The meeting heard that the petition about the 2G pitch at the academy will be heard by the Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee – 12 local councillors – on 5 June. Councillors will have the opportunity to ask for a report on the plan by officers and Robertsons for a like-for-like pitch rather than a 3G pitch which is more suitable for football. Chairman Ron Sharp plans to speak to the councillors when the matter is discussed in the Stonehaven council chambers.
Aberdeenshire Council has received bids from developers to build some 4585 houses all around Portlethen and at Findon. This is part of the process in refreshing the council’s local development plan. If a bid is turned down it greatly lessens the likelihood of it receiving planning permission in future years.
Ron Sharp commented that the community was in a similar position five years when the plan was last reviewed. Community councillors agreed to hold a special private meeting to discuss the bids in detail, however it was the consensus that they do not want to see coalescence with other communities.
Among other matters there was a discussion about setting up a Portlethen radio station. Ian Hunter from Mearns FM outlined how this could be done on the internet for around £2000. There could be space for a studio in the Porty Cabin. Community councillor Paul Melling volunteered to find out more.
A member of the public thanked community councillors – and councillors – for all their efforts on behalf of the community, and wondered how more people could be persuaded to attend the meetings.
When the LDP was last reviewed in 2013, it was indicated that housing increases along the Aberdeen-Stonehaven corridor would be concentrated in the new town of Chapelton of Elsick: where 4,045 homes had permission to be built. So why, when there are still close to 4,000 empty potential plots at Chapelton (in Sept 2017 only 110 homes had been built and occupied since construction started in Oct 2013), does Portlethen need another 4,000 odd houses on top of that? Additionally, in the long term at Chapelton of Elsick another 4,000 homes are already envisaged bringing the total number of homes to 8,000!
In my opinion, until Elsick is fully constructed let’s have no more new patchwork development in Portlethen. Such poor, and piecemeal, planning in Portlethen’s past has led to this town with no definable heart/centre that’s resulted in an apathetic community. Let the house builders go elsewhere in Aberdeenshire to make their money, and leave Portlethen be.
You raise some interesting points, Anne, and I am sure they will be taken into consideration when council officers and councillors get to the stage of making decisions about which bids to accept for inclusion in the next Local Development Plan. Please put forward your opinions when there is the public consultation takes place.