More speed checks in Portlethen

Police Scotland are to step up speed checks at “major locations” around Portlethen, including Bruntland Road. Comments were made at tonight’s community council that some traffic tops 60mph.

Among other topics were:

The planning application by Asda for a replacement petrol station and a new restaurant were outlined by a company representative. He also said that the store will undergo a major refurbishment later this year, costing millions.

The gala has been re-energised by new members on the committee.

A case for the community council joining the Scottish Rural Parliament was not supported on the basis that Portlethen is urban rather than rural.

A special community council meeting – open to the public – will be held on 2 May after a petition was received about the like-for-like replacement of the synthetic pitch at the academy.

News from the area committee

Some local snippets from today’s Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee meeting in Stonehaven:

– Community councils will receive an annual administration grant. Newtonhill, Muchalls and Cammachmore CC will receive £651, North Kincardine Rural CC £494, and Portlethen CC £1356. The sum varies according to the number of electors.

– Councillors agreed with a proposal to sell houses on a case by case basis when they become void if they require major energy efficiency improvements, significant investment, or are the remaining council property in a mixed tenure block. The money raised will be used to purchase another house within the same community, which should also attract Scottish Government grant. The council has some 13,000 houses.

– The council’s roads service is to look into whether two country roads in North Kincardine can be Priority 1 gritting routes. This follows the receipt of two petitions from resident, one from the Kirkton of Maryculter about the U63K and the other from Causey Mounth residents about the C34K towards the South Deeside Road. A further report will come back to committee.

– Some 97.6% of reported street lighting faults are fixed within seven days. And 94.9% of household planning applications are dealt with within two months.

Search for village shop tenant

Scotmid Co-operative Society today assured me they are taking steps to find a new tenant for the recently-closed village store in Newtonhill.
 
Chief executive John Brodie tells me that they are appointing an agent to market the property to find a suitable future occupier, and they have already received some early enquiries following its closure.
 
He adds that whether the next occupier will be for a convenience store or an alternative retail or other use remains to be seen.
 
There will certainly be challenges for whoever that will be as they try to operate a profitable business. The shop has been there since 1912 … I wonder what lies ahead?

Why underpass lights are as they are

Every so often someone asks about the street lights at the underpass at the A90 Findon junction, and why they are set the way they are.

Here is the explanation from the roads service:

“This particular underpass and indeed the one at Hillside both have a specialist lighting system in place. The light levels in the underpass/tunnel section are controlled by way of a light sensor located outside the underpass, which aligns the light level inside the area to the level outside.

“The sensor monitors the light level continuously and switches lights on and off to maintain the required level. Even during broad daylight, there will be lights illuminated in the underpass as this is when most light is required to match outside levels. As the ambient light level falls outside, the level of the light required in the tunnel reduces, so less lighting is required.

“So, in summary, the lights do not switch on/off at dusk/dawn, in the same way as the majority of our street lights but are continually monitored and switch according to the light level required in the underpass/tunnel area.”

Travel surveys taking place

Interviews on travel habits will be taking place in Portlethen on Wednesday (25 April), at Bruntland Road and Muirend Road.
 
The surveys are being carried out by Tracsis Traffic Data, who have been contracted to undertake this work on behalf of Aberdeenshire Council’s transport strategy team. This will not affect drivers.
 
These surveys are aimed at gathering information on the travelling habits of the Aberdeenshire population, as part of the monitoring and reporting requirements of the Scottish Governments’ Smarter Choices Smarter Places funding.
 
A similar survey will take place in Stonehaven on Wednesday 2 May at Market Square, the railway station, and the Old Pier.

Beware scam calls

Aberdeenshire Council’s Trading Standards are warning residents to beware of calls purporting to be from HM Revenue and Customs.
The calls, from various telephone numbers, allege the person owes tax or is under investigation for tax fraud.
The main purpose of the scam is to obtain personal details from those taking the call.
Aberdeenshire Council’s Trading Standards manager Wilma Urquhart said: “This scam has gone on for some considerable time but we continue to receive reports from residents extremely worried that they may be under investigation.
“I would reassure people that this is a clear scam and they should ignore the call.
“HMRC would not use this method of contact if they were conducting an investigation and the calls are an attempt to gain personal or bank details.”
These calls can be reported to Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.police.uk or contact 03454 04 05 06 for further advice.

Date for sports hub AGM

Portlethen Sports Hub will be holding its annual general meeting on Wednesday 23 May at 6pm in the academy. I do hope the AGM will be well supported.

It is open to all sports clubs in the North Kincardine ward and indeed to anyone who is interested in sport.

Sportlethen now has a notice board and table in the foyer of Portlethen Swimming Pool.

Also for the diary (provisionally) is the first Sportlethen Running Event, on 9 September. Hopefully this will be confirmed in due course. At the moment there will be a women’s 5K run, and family 3K.

Road deaths at low level

The number of people fatally injured on North East roads is at its lowest level since current records began in 1974.
The figures have been highlighted by Road Safety North East Scotland, a partnership of public bodies promoting safe road use locally.
Provisional statistics reveal that during 2017, 14 people died as a result of their involvement in a road traffic collision in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray.
Records show the highest number of casualties was in 1976, when 102 people died on North East roads – almost two deaths every week. The previous lowest figure occurred more recently in 2011, when 22 people died during the year.
Meanwhile A90 drivers have been £92,000 over three months for exceeding the speed limit between Stonehaven and Dundee:    https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/a90-speeders-fined-92000-in-three-months1/

HQ move may be scrapped

Aberdeenshire Council could scrap plans to move its headquarters from Aberdeen to a new building in Inverurie.
On Thursday councillors will discuss a report which recommends that we should retain the existing offices at Woodhill House while increasing the office presence in Stonehaven, Ellon and Inverurie. Savings will be generated from the disposal of old properties.
 
The report also recommends exploring options to share the current Woodhill House complex with other public bodies.
 
In January 2017 councillors had voted to explore the option of building a new headquarters at Inverurie and quitting Woodhill House. But that was not something that I thought was in the best interests of the residents in North Kincardine.
 
A key factor at that time seemed to be the fact that Aberdeenshire is the only local authority in Scotland to have its headquarters outside its boundary. That is indeed the case, because of historical reasons (we own the former Grampian Region headquarters). However that is not a good basis for spending millions just to move elsewhere. I look forward to Thursday’s debate.
 
To read the report coming before councillors scroll down to item 9 on the agenda once you have clicked on this link: http://committees.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/committees.aspx?commid=1&meetid=18736