New hope over Elsick medical centre

Alison McInnes, Scottish Liberal MSP for the North East, last Thursday urged the Cabinet Secretary for Health to recognise the need to provide health facilities to people in towns with growing populations across the North East. 

During General Questions in the Scottish Parliament, Mrs McInnes highlighted the fact that there are no confirmed plans to build medical facilities to provide services for the new Chapelton of Elsick development, despite the fact that it could provide up to 8,000 homes. 

She argued: “Developers have offered a retail unit for the first 800 houses for a GP surgery and will set aside ground for a medical centre as the community grows. But a medical centre would cost millions and it is unclear where this funding would come from. 

“Residents therefore fear that existing healthcare services, such as Portlethen Medical Centre – already amongst the busiest in the country with nearly 14,000 patients – could be overwhelmed. 

“Given health boards were recently stripped of their powers to allocate capital funding, will the Minister take responsibility and act to ensure that residents in and around Chapelton of Elsick can access high quality health care in the future?” 

In response, the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Alex Neil MSP, said that Mrs McInnes made “a number of very valid points” and indicated that he would consider any request from NHS Grampian for additional funding once its ongoing discussions with Aberdeenshire Council have concluded. He said that the Scottish Government could then assess whether it needs to intervene or help implement any agreed proposals. 

Speaking after General Questions, Ms McInnes commented: “Official statistics show six of the biggest 20 practices, by patient list size, are in the North East. 

“I am concerned that some GP practices in towns with burgeoning populations are already under considerable pressure with creaking facilities that are no longer fit-for-purpose. For example, the GP practices in Inverurie and Ellon already have 22,000 and 16,000 patients respectively, and both towns continue to grow. 

“The building of the new town of Chapelton of Elsick in Kincardineshire is already underway. Three primary schools, a secondary school, retail outlets and employment opportunities are all planned, but a question mark still hangs over the provision of a medical centre. 

“The Scottish Government holds the purse strings and can help find a solution. I am therefore pleased that the Cabinet Secretary indicated that his door is open should NHS Grampian need to request funding in order to provide the medical services that residents of this new town will need.”

North Kincardine councillor Ian Mollison welcomed the commitment from the Health Secretary. “This is a step forward and hopefully will result in a solution being found to this challenge. The provision of health care is the responsibility of the Scottish Government and NHS Grampian – not Aberdeenshire Council.”

Council upgrading local roads

Roads contractor Leith’s Scotland Ltd had been scheduled to carry out repairs on two roads in the Banchory Devenick area (the C34K and the U60K) on the week commencing Monday 18 November. However the work has been postponed to a later date.

Aberdeenshire Council had asked the firm to start one job (likely to be the C34K) then once it is complete they can move on to the next job (U60K). It would not be possible to have both roads closed at the same time as the diversion routes would conflict.

At some point in the future the C34K from Banchory Devenick Crossroads to Banchory-Devenick School will close while patching takes place between 9:15am to 3pm daily.

And the U60K will subsequently close from the C34K at Tollohill Lodge to Gregellen House, also for patching works.

All the work should be completed during one week.

From Monday 25 November the Cookney Road west of the Newtonhill flyover (officially called the C24K) is to be closed for a week from Windyedge to Wester Cairnhill). Leiths Scotland Ltd will be carrying out much-needed road patching works for Aberdeenshire Council’s roads service. Diversions will be in place. 

Meanwhile the U93K from the B979 Netherley Road to Borrowfield will also be closed for patching by Leiths Scotland. However as this is a dead-end, vehicular access to affected properties to be maintained whenever possible during this week.

Strong turnout for Newtonhill planning meeting

More than 80 residents attended Monday’s public meeting in Newtonhill to hear about Aberdeenshire Council’s refresh of the Local Development Plan.

The meeting in the Bettridge Centre heard council planners Piers Blaxter and David Dunne outline the proposals by developers for more houses in the Newtonhill, Muchalls, Cammachmore and North Kincardine rural area. However none of the bids were being recommended by council officers for approval. The exception was for playing fields in Newtonhill, though a developer told the meeting that this was tied to a proposal for more housing to the south of the village.
 
Three local councillors also attended the meeting, as in due course the recommendations will go before the Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee for a decision.
 
Councillor Ian Mollison, who stays in Newtonhill, said: “I was very pleased by the turnout and by the quality of the questions. It is important that residents put forward their views so that we can make an informed decision.
 
“The Newtonhill area has a strong community spirit so it was no surprise to learn that this had been the best attended meeting across Aberdeenshire so far.”
 
 
Comments can be submitted by 1 February.

Residents urged to attend key Local Plan meetings

Aberdeenshire councillor Ian Mollison is urging residents in the Portlethen and Newtonhill area to attend public consultations into refreshing the council’s Local Development Plan which will be the blueprint for any development after 2016.

Consultations have already begun across Aberdeenshire on the first stage in preparing one of the most important planning documents for the region.

The Local Development Plan 2016 will include policies and proposals to determine where new development such as housing and offices will be carried out from 2017 until 2027.

Residents, developers and anyone else with an interest is now able to comment and give their views on a Main Issues Report.

The consultation period lasts until Friday 31 January.

The Main Issues Report is written by council planners and set out the proposals for possible changes from the existing Local Development Plan. For example, developers have put forward suggestions for areas where they would like to build more houses.

The responses received during the consultation will be considered during the production of the new plan and final decisions will be made by local councillors.

Councillor Mollison said: “The current plan which was adopted in 2012, allocated more than enough land for development. So there is not the need to identify new sites. However there may be a case for removing a site where insurmountable challenges have arisen and adding others.

“I hope as many people as possible will attend the meeting in Portlethen Academy on Tuesday 6 November and in Newtonhill’s Bettridge Centre on Monday 11 November. I am sure Portlethen residents will want to discuss proposals for the town, including aspirations to develop north of Hillside. Meanwhile in the Newtonhill area folk will be interested to see that there are bids to build in Muchalls, to the north and south of Newtonhill and at Cammachmore.” 

Theses are part of a series of 42 meetings, which kicked off on 31 October.  

The purpose of the public meetings is to help people make representations by allowing discussion and questions to planners. Comments can be submitted by email, letter, via the council’s website or on a form available from libraries and at the meetings.

Community council discusses key local issues

A busy agenda as usual at the Newtonhill, Muchalls and Cammachmore Community Council meeting in Muchalls tonight. Pity there were no press reporters or members of the public. 

Here are some highlights. 

  • They are pressing ahead with a campaign for a 50mph speed limit on the A90 from Bridge of Muchalls to Aberdeen by writing to Transport Scotland.
  • Pursuing the provision of a post box in the vicinity of Tesco (there are three in Newtonhill as Skateraw Road, St Crispin’s Road and St Michael’s Road – Royal Mail would like to move the St Crispin’s Road box).
  • Objections will be lodged with Aberdeenshire Council protesting at plans for a large wind turbine behind Cran Hill.
  • Construction work should start on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and Fastlink next autumn with construction taking some 3½ years.
  • Concerns have been expressed about mud on the road between the flyover and the A90, coming from construction vehicles building the roads towards Chapelton of Elsick.
  • Applications for grants from the Meikle Carewe windfarm community farm must be submitted by 30 November.
  • Finally a questionnaire is being produced to be delivered to all households later this year on a variety of key local issues. 

If you want to know more – or indeed volunteer by becoming a community councillor – contact the community council. Details at www.nmccc.org.uk

New bus timetable introduced

New bus timetables for the Stonehaven-Newtonhill-Portlethen-Aberdeen routes were introduced yesterday (14 October).

Stagecoach’s Bob Hall commented: “Unfortunately (or perhaps even fortunately) our timescale for completing and sending the timetables to the printers slipped dramatically, due mainly to the large response we received for comments on the proposals and the subsequent late changes we made to these proposals.

“This is the first major consultation exercise we have undertaken for many years and I know that we learned many lessons from this that will, hopefully, make future ones better.”

Mr Hall told local councillor Ian Mollison: “I hope that you don’t think the dialogue stops here. I would really appreciate feedback on any aspects of the consultation process and also on the new service. ”

Cllr Mollison commented: “Any change is unsettling, and I hope that once passengers are familiar with the alterations to timings, routings and frequencies, they will be improvements. If not I would urge residents to get in touch with Stagecoach and let them know.

“If anyone has difficulty in obtaining a copy of the new timetable I would be happy to email it to them, if they get in touch.”

Cautious welcome for A90 blackspot safety work

Limited safety measures are to take place at a danger junction on the A90 near Portlethen. 

The news came in a letter from Transport Scotland to North Kincardine Liberal Democrat councillor Ian Mollison. 

He gave the work a cautious welcome: “Although Transport Scotland has ruled out bringing forward the construction of a grade separated junction at Bourtreebush, I am pleased that they are doing something, albeit limited in nature. There have been too many accidents at this blackspot, with people losing their lives.” 

Transport Scotland’s strategic road safety manager Stuart Wilson wrote: “We are planning to fit marker posts on the central reserve to highlight this particular junction.

“In addition Transport Scotland will meet with our operating company BEAR Scotland and Police Scotland to review the adequacy of diversion routes when the trunk road has been closed due to an accident in Kincardineshire.” 

In the most recent serious accident, the A90 was closed for seven hours on 14 August after a collision between a motorcyclist and a car, which claimed the life of the motorcyclist. Diversions clogged up surrounding rural roads for many hours. 

Transport Scotland’s trunk roads director Roy Brannen has previously told North East Scotland Liberal Democrat MSP Alison McInnes that it would “not be reasonable” to ask the developer of new town of Chapelton of Elsick to bring forward the building of the interchange. 

The MSP had hoped that the Scottish Government could have had the planned underpass built earlier than needed for the new town. 

Work on the new town started this month, with the construction starting on an access road to the first phase of some 800 houses near Newtonhill. The developer is required to provide a grade-separated junction at Bourtreebush before the 1744th house is occupied. 

Mr Wilson told Cllr Mollison: “Under current planning legislation it would not be reasonable to ask the developer to bring forward the provision of this infrastructure.” 

The councillor commented: “The underpass is the solution. Campaigners had hoped the Scottish Government might have stepped in to help build it sooner than later. Although any safety work is welcome, marker posts are not the answer we were seeking.”

Government pressed over Elsick medical centre funding

North East MSP Alison McInnes has challenged the Scottish Government to fund a medical centre in the new town of Chapelton of Elsick in Kincardineshire.

Work started this month on the first phase of the £2 billion community, which will has a long-term target of 8000 houses.

Although three primary schools, a secondary schools, retail outlets and employment are all planned, a question mark hangs over the provision of a medical centre.

At a public meeting in Portlethen recently a NHS Grampian representative said that the board has no funds for capital spend. A new medical centre would cost in the region of £6m to £9m, he said, but they have no funding for such a proposal.

Mrs McInnes said: “I have written to health secretary Alex Neill to ask what steps the Scottish Government is taking to ensure NHS Grampian can provide medical services in Chapelton of Elsick.

“A number of constituents have approached me to voice their concerns about the impact the new town will have on the existing GP provision which is provided at Portlethen Medical Centre. I have meet staff at the surgery and heard of their apprehension as the new town develops.

“I am told the developers have offered a retail unit for the first phase of the town – some 800 houses – for a surgery and will also set aside ground for a full medical centre as the community grows. However there is no clarity about who will provide the funding.

“This is causing a great deal of disquiet among the existing populations of Portlethen, Newtonhill, Muchalls and the surrounding rural area.”

Local councillor Ian Mollison had raised the issue with the Liberal Democrat MSP and asked for her help in pressing the Scottish Government. He said: “The Scottish Government approved the Aberdeenshire local development plan so they have been aware for some considerable time of the plans for the new town … which would obviously include medical provision. So it should come as no surprise that it will have to be funded.”

Police plans criticised though Stonehaven escapes the axe

Stonehaven police office has escaped the fate of 65 other police stations across Scotland which face having their public counters closed.

North East MSP Alison McInnes this week criticised Police Scotland for turning its back on many North East communities after it was revealed that public counters at police stations across the region are set to reduce their opening hours or close entirely.

However the Stonehaven office will only be having its public opening hours altered. It is proposed that the office will open to the public from 7am to midnight instead of 8am to 1am.

Mrs McInnes, who is also the Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson, said: “This announcement might give some reassurance to the people of Stonehaven who were concerned that the local police office might be under threat given that the adjoining sheriff court is due to be closed by the Scottish Government.”

The nationwide review of police office public counters has recommended that 69 stations across Scotland close or share their front desk. Mrs McInnes commented: “Scottish Liberal Democrats repeatedly warned of the risks of centralising our police forces. The police are turning their backs on many North East communities, and local policing is being eroded.

 “The proposed closure of 65 public counters in police stations across Scotland – including eight in the North East – could have a real impact on long-established links between police and our communities. 

“People rightly value being able to report issues directly to their local police station. Now it seems that some people will have no option but to make a phone call to a remote call centre and speak to an operator who will not have the same depth of local knowledge as local officers. 

“After decades of building a reputation as the stewards of the community, our local police risk becoming a faceless organisation. Coming so soon after it was announced that local courts and fire control rooms across Scotland will close, communities will understandably be worried about what will be next.”

North Kincardine councillor Ian Mollison noted that Portlethen polcie office was not affected by the changes. “It does not have a public office, so there is not change, I know officers will answer the door if they are available, but it is not staffed  continuosuly.”