I asked council officers for more information about a path going to be established in Elsick Park in Newtonhill.

That’s the wee park at the north end of Old Mill Road overlooking the valley of the Elsick Burn.

Landscape Services received approval for an allocation in the 2022/23 budget of £10,000 on a new gravel footpath. The route is shown below.

The service has been working with Newtonhill Environment Action Team (NEAT) on this. It will link up with the right of way to Cammachmore.

Well, that’s that. My final meeting as an Aberdeenshire councillor after 15 years. The swansong was a four-hour meeting of the full council, with 60 of the 70 councillors attending virtually.

Plans to meet in the chamber at Woodhill House in Aberdeen had to be abandoned because, simply, the technology would not work.

Provost Bill Howatson gave an unexpected name check to all the councillors who are not standing again, and a special mentioned to my colleague Fergus Hood who died a year ago from cancer.

Our final meeting included two planning applications, the annual report from the chief social work officer, a best value action report, a review of the scheme of governance, changes of allegiance by three councillors, a covid update, and a review of hybrid meetings.

The vast majority of councillors – of all parties and none – undertake their tasks with the best of intentions, with the aim of making life better for all our residents. We come in for criticisms, and sometimes it is justified! And of course we are answerable to voters.

On Thursday 5 May voters get the opportunity to go to the polls to choose four representatives to represent North Kincardine. Please do!

The Press and Journal published a round-up from the final full council meeting: https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeen-aberdeenshire/4232867/aberdeenshire-council-it/?fbclid=IwAR190J5yVXWRk3-mMP8Crr3UwR_J_Q2KTdO76SmY1M7m_aZm0ADfFvTJs90

Newtonhill Pop-up Library is open in the Bettridge Centre every Wednesday and Friday … but not many people have popped in since it re-opened after the pandemic.

It is open on Wednesdays from 3.30 to 6pm, and from 1pm to 3.30pm on Fridays in the small hall to the rear of the centre.

Books are on display (see below) and if there is one you want which isn’t in stock, staff will order it for you.

Owing to Scottish Water carrying out water main works it will be necessary to close a footpath linking the A92 with Cookston Road in Portlethen, as shown on the map.

The path will be closed for eight weeks from Monday 2 May 2022.

Plans for 175 more houses at Hillside will come before the June meeting of the Kincardine and Mearns Area committee.

Councillors were told this morning that the application for full planning permission for the housing at Leathan Fields will return to the committee.

The application had originally been approved subject to a resolution of concerns about capacity at Hillside School.

At that time, it had been anticipated that children would be rezoned to Portlethen Primary or Fishermoss School. If the rezoning proposals were not accepted, then the application would have to come back to the committee. As Education Scotland objected to the rezoning as well as local opposition, this is resulting in the application coming back to the committee, following discussions between the Planning Service and the developer.

Area manager Bruce Stewart told councillors that the Planning Service has confirmed a report will be presented to the area committee on 14 June.

Preparations are under way to make further repairs to potholes in the North Kincardine ward.

Reassurances were given by senior council Roads Service officers at today’s Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee that staff are “cracking on” with getting our roads back up to an acceptable standard. For example, the annual surface dressing programme will begin in May.

Councillors were presented with a high-level report on the works programme for roads, bridges, cycling, walking, roads safety, flooding, landscaping and harbours.

Normally this is a detailed report setting out which roads are to be repaired. However, councillors heard that the programmes for roads is still under development and will be presented to the area committee in June.

That prompted my questions about whether this would cause further delay with three months being lost … however I was assured by Roads and Landscape Service area manager Derek Murray that this was not the case. Officers are working on the list approved last year by the area committee which covered two years’ projects. He said that nothing will be delayed.

This year the budget for roads resurfacing and surface dressing in Aberdeenshire is £15,566,000, compared to the average of £11,530,000 over the past five years, excluding 2020-21. Kincardine and Mearns area shares that budget proportionately.

Mr Murray cited some of the challenges facing the council, in common with other local authorities. They are faced with labour shortages and market pressures such as prices of fuel and bitumen where there have been massive increases.

I specifically asked about Old Mill Road and Cairnhill Road in Newtonhill.

Principal roads engineer Ewan Smith said that Old Mill Road resurfacing scheme was deferred from 2021-22 due to Scottish Water major mains renewal in the last six months at an adjacent location, however the project will be carried over and site works are now planned for 2022-23. Mr Smith said it is “high up on our radar and will be done sooner than later” and will be carried out by a contractor.

Regarding the entrance to Cairnhill Road, this will be given due attention under the reactive programme (i.e. temporary repairs) until house construction work nearby is completed.

We were also told that anti-skid surfacing will be renewed shortly on the zebra crossings in Newtonhill.

I also welcomed the allocation of £12,000 for feasibility and initial design work for a path from Newtonhill to Cammachmore via the existing A92 underpass. This is to be taken forward under a new project team headed by Gavin Penman. The first step by the local authority, taking forward initial work by Newtonhill, Muchalls and Cammachmore Community Council.

The report also referenced land acquisition for phase one of a Portlethen to Marywell link, which will connect to Aberdeen City Council’s plans. At this stage the city does not have a preferred route and Aberdeenshire’s proposals allow for connecting to either of the two options being considered by the city. It will be a multi-year project with construction in 2023/24.

Councillors also heard that the Roads Service is appointing staff to engage directly with the public as well as community councillors and councillors. This will allow technical staff to focus more on their specialist roles rather than answering questions.

My Stonehaven colleague Sarah Dickinson asked questions about concerns the public can have about the use of contractors for roads maintenance work. She writes: “I asked about this as the report is clear that there is a mix of the two used. I was advised that in-house teams will always be used first, but given the scale of works and the need to deliver these in a timely manner, working with contractors as well is necessary.

“Teams are significantly understaffed despite efforts to address this and recruit. Operational changes have been and are being made to try and help with a new contracts team taking on that side of the work and a communications team being put in place to improve response times to both councillors and communities.”

The Landscape Services report included an allocation of £10,000 on a new gravel footpath in Elsick Park, Newtonhill. That’s the wee park at the north end of Old Mill Road overlooking the valley of the Elsick Burn. The service has been working with Newtonhill Environment Action Team (NEAT) on this.

The presentations and discussion lasted for more than two hours with questions being asked by most councillors, including my ward colleagues Alison Evison and Colin Pike. You can watch the meeting live- and read the reports – by going to the council website: https://committees.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/committees.aspx?commid=8&meetid=19928

The following new application in the North Kincardine ward can be viewed on the Aberdeenshire Council planning register: https://upa.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/online-applications/.

APP/2022/0911
Date validated: 19 April 2022.
Site address: 10 Bruntland Court, Portlethen, AB12 4UQ.
Applicant: Ms Kirsty Curley c/o John G Aitken Architectural Services, 2 Cameron Court, Stonehaven, AB39 2FH.
Application: Full planning permission for alterations and extension to dwellinghouse.
Public comment expiry date: 10 May 2022.

The local covid-19 situation seems to be improving steadily now. Not out of the woods yet though.

Today there were 119 patients (141 last week) in NHS Grampian hospitals who have tested positive for covid-19. Two people are in intensive care (one last week).

NHS Grampian says: “Hospital admissions continue to decline, with 59 in the last seven days compared to 104 in the previous week and those being admitted FOR covid decreasing, with nine admissions in the last week versus 25 in the previous seven days. Consequently, covid occupancy overall has reduced by 16% from last week – although remaining high at 117, comparable with hospitalisation levels experienced during the January 2021 (Delta) wave.”

In Aberdeenshire:

• Six more deaths were recorded in the past week linked to covid-19. The cumulative toll is 313.

• DROPPING – 1289 cases were recorded in the past seven days. Previous weekly figures were: 1638, 2066, 2989, 3469, 4148, 3789, 2797, and 2357.

• 459 vaccinations were administered in the Shire last week.

• DOWN – The seven day positive rate per 100,000 is 628.1, according to Public Health Scotland. Previous weeks were 728.6, 1146.2, 1330.2, and 1590.6.

• FALLING – In the past seven days 32 cases were recorded in the Netherley / Fetteresso / Catterline area, 27 in the Banchory-Devenick / Findon area, 14 in Portlethen, and 16 in Newtonhill.

Live Life Aberdeenshire supports local community culture and sports organisations through grant funding. In 2021/22 the Positive Action Grant scheme supported 28 local organisations.

The deadline for this year’s Positive Action Grants scheme is 31 May.

The scheme will offer grants from £200 to £5000 to encourage smaller projects to develop.

A panel will assess applications and agree on the best use of resources against weighted criteria.

Applications will be welcome from any constituted group-based and delivering in Aberdeenshire and contribute to the culture and sport strategic outcomes.

More information can be found on the Live Life Aberdeenshire website’s information. https://livelifeaberdeenshire.org.uk/

Tangleha Artists Collective has secured funding to appoint an experienced project officer to assist in the development of the coastal path around Aberdeenshire, in the first instance between St Cyrus and Portlethen / Cove.

Kincardineshire Development Partnership reports that this will tie into an Aberdeenshire-wide coastal path as a legacy project to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

The collective is looking for a self-employed contractor, sole trader or small company to build community capacity in relation to the coastal trail project, with a strong emphasis on partnership and collaborative working, facilitation, engagement and consultation, and involvement in collaboration with community groups, stakeholders, landowners and the public.

Click here for the job description: https://scot.us19.list-manage.com/track/click….

For further information, please email c.glazener@abdn.ac.uk.