Hunter Construction (Aberdeen) Ltd has been contracted to carry out permanent repairs along Muirend Road, Portlethen.

This in addition to the contract awarded to Hunter Construction patching potholes in Portlethen, Newtonhill and Muchalls.

I am told by the Roads Service that on occasions when there are small amounts of material left over from these works the contractor uses the excess material to fill in defects / holes nearby (a temporary repair) rather than transport the material back offsite for disposal.

Monduff Road in Muchalls is to remain closed from its junction with Pheppie Road and Stranathro Terrace from Saturday 29 January until 4 February.

Aberdeenshire Council’s Road Service is carrying out drainage investigation works.

Next month, as Aberdeenshire Council’s Roads Service will be carrying out drainage works, the C12K will be closed for five days at Springfield from the B979 Netherley Road to the C25K junction at Burnhead.

This will begin on Monday 7 February and site notices will be erected in due course.

What happened here then? I have told the Roads Service about this bashed railing on Devenick Drive, Portlethen, just in case they hadn’t heard.

I am told that the roads inspector will visit the site and appropriate action will follow.

Last Thursday at the council’s infrastructure services committee I asked for an update on the provision of superfast broadband in the Portlethen and Newtonhill area. In response officers have provided me with a lot of information, set out below. I won’t pretend to understand all of this, but it may help others! It comes from the council’s new digital engagement team.

As part of the Scottish R100 programme, local authorities have access to a large swathe of data, that allows councils to see which properties across the region are due to receive full-fibre installation, and details as to when this will happen.  It also shows which properties are eligible for a two voucher schemes, to get a superfast broadband solution now.  Scottish Government has also given registered telecoms operators access to this information, in a bid to incentivise operators to pro-actively install broadband solutions, and utilise the voucher scheme.

GoFibre – who have been calling on residents in Portlethen and Newtonhill – is working in partnership with a local telecoms operator, Marykirk.com.  As their name suggests, they are based in Marykirk, and provide broadband solutions, and good coverage, across the south Kincardine and Mearns, and the north of Angus. 

They offer fixed wireless coverage across the area, but they are working with GoFibre to expand full-fibre installation, to premises that are not included in the planned R100 builds of full-fibre. Marykirk.com is working tirelessly to improve digital connectivity for the area. 

Similar to local authorities, operators only get premise-level information, i.e. address and data, and do not have access to personal information.  Therefore, the only direct way to reach residents is door-knocking or leaflet drops. This explains the door-to-door work that has been happening, and GoFibre is trying to help residents use their vouchers, to roll out additional full-fibre infrastructure.

Since launching in September 2020, it took until September 2021 for Scottish Government to release information regarding the roll-out of the R100 programme for the Aberdeenshire area, and finalise the eligibility status of premises for the voucher schemes.  That has coincided with the council’s digital engagement team being created, precisely to help stimulate demand in the R100 programme, and support residents through the processes involved. 

The R100 planned full-fibre infrastructure won’t reach every resident in Aberdeenshire until 2027, which is a long time since the programme was first announced in 2017.  Additionally, there are more than 7,000 properties in Aberdeenshire which will be missed by this roll-out, and although they are entitled to a £5,000 voucher per premises to procure a broadband solution, there is undoubtedly a lot of frustration for these individuals who feel forgotten. 

That’s the council’s team has been created, to listen to residents and identify the gaps that will still remain after R100, but to also work closely with residents, communities, and operators, to help find solutions for every resident. 

Here is what’s happening on the ground with this programme.  Scottish Government commissioned BT, and Openreach as their supplier, to deliver full-fibre installation across Scotland, in a bid to get the majority of premises with slow broadband, access to superfast speeds of at least 30Mbps.  This has resulted a ongoing plan of full-fibre installation happening in phases across Scotland.  These installations, often referred to as ‘Build-Outs’ will be completed by the following works:

• Telephone exchanges in selected areas are upgraded to allow for increase in capacity
• Infrastructure for fibre-optic cabling may need improved between the exchange and noted properties
  • This may mean replacing copper cabling that is hung from telegraph poles currently
  • This may mean replacing cabling in underground ducting
  • This may mean installing new ducting, to allow for fibre-optic cable to be installed properly
• Engineers will then lay fibre-optic cabling from the exchange, directly to every listed property.  This means gigabit capable broadband is fed right to the premises.
• Once this work has been completed, Openreach will likely drop flyers / notes through residents doors to let them know the work is completed.
• At this point, it is then up to the resident to get ‘switched-on’ by speaking to their Internet Service Provider, informing them that Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) is live.  The Internet Service Provider will send out an engineer to do the final connection, and install a router.
• The resident will then have access to gigabit capable broadband of speeds in excess of 1000Mbps / 1Gbps.

These build-outs will happen in phases across Aberdeenshire.  Phase 1 will reach premises in Newtonhill, Portlethen, and Netherley.  There are 392 premises in the area that will be completed, and therefore ‘live’ by the end of March 2022.  The next phases are as follows:

Phase	Completion	# of Premises	Areas
Phase 2	Jun-22	1,034	Stonehaven and surrounding area / Crathes / North Aberdeen / Belhelvie / Newmachar
Phase 3	Dec-22	1,484	Stonehaven south to Kinneff / large chunk of Garioch / Newburgh
Phase 4	Jun-23	1,286	Portlethen outliers / Bridge of Muchalls / North Garioch / Ellon
Phase 5	Dec-23	1,005	Laurencekirk / St Cyrus / Huntly / Ellon outliers
Phase 6	Dec-24	2,259	Rest of Kincradine & Mearns / North Marr / West Banff & Buchan / Mid-Formartine
Phase 7	Dec-25	4,283	All of Buchan / Rest of Formartine / East Banff & Buchan
Phase 8	Dec-26	3,528	All of Marr / South-west Garioch / Aberdeen City / Maryculter
Phase 9	Dec-27	583	Westhill / Drumoak

Apart from the build-outs of full-fibre, any premises that is due to receive full-fibre, but not until after March 2022, they are eligible for a £400 voucher, to obtain a temporary internet solution.  These vouchers need to be used by 31 March 2022, and the council’s digital team is keen to help people use this voucher, and give support and advice on different solutions open to them.

And lastly, as mentioned previously, there are over 7,000 premises who will not benefit from the build-outs, and have a £5,000 voucher to obtain a more permanent solution for superfast broadband.  There is no deadline for this voucher scheme at present.  In the North Kincardine ward, there are 213 premises in this situation. 

For both voucher schemes, the digital engagement team is here to support, guide and inform residents in what their circumstances are, what support is available to them for obtaining superfast broadband, and we are here to help them through the process of using the vouchers.

The team’s webpage is live on the council website, with links and information: https://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/business/support-and-advice/communities/Digital-Connectivity/.

And more information on R100 can be found on the programme website: www.scotlandsuperfast.com

Asda tell me that In the recent round of green token voting in the Portlethen store, Portlethen Primary Together won the customer vote and was awarded £500.

As runners-up, The Haven Community Larder and Bettridge Centre both received £200.

The current round of green token voting is open for another week, and shoppers can take part by visiting the local store page here: https://www.asda.com/green-tokens Unfortunately Asda Portlethen is not taking part in the vote this time.

The time has come for the pipe and slippers (so to speak). After 15 years, I have decided to step down in May as the Liberal Democrat councillor for the North Kincardine ward.

I have given this a lot of thought. It has been a pleasure (most of the time) and a privilege to have been chosen to take the difficult decisions on behalf of the 12,336 voters in this ward. It has been an honour to have represented the ward, but now is the time to step aside for someone younger. The years are adding up now!

There have been highlights, such as the decision to give the green light to the building of Chapelton. It is a community which is a delight to the eye.

I will also always recall being in the Bettridge Centre in Newtonhill when an orchestra from Scottish Ballet played for some local primary school children, including the memorable “Pirates of the Caribbean”.  That was something to behold.

There have been dark moments too. Particularly the Scottish Government’s decision to over-rule the views of local councillors about whether houses should be built on the moor south of Newtonhill.

I have tried to make this a better place to live, but not always succeeded. Trying to move a local authority in the right direction isn’t easy. There are 69 other councillors for a start. And councillors do not take operational decisions, so one has to use persuasion and logic when putting a case to officers.

One aim has not yet been realised … the reopening of Newtonhill Station. All the signs are good, but it takes many years to accomplish this. We are on the right track.

My thanks to the many people who have encouraged me, and helped me along the way. To those who don’t fall into that category, well, what can I say. Life would be dull if we all agreed. And these 15 years have been anything but dull.

All I ask is that people are kind to my successors. Most councillors are conscientious, hard-working and doing the best they can. One hundred days to go.

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

APP/2021/2752
Date validated: 18 January 2022.
Site address: Schlumberger, Badentoy Drive, Badentoy Industrial Estate, Portlethen AB12 4ZD.
Applicant: Standard Life Investments Property Holdings Ltd c/o Syzygy Consulting, 18 Swan Court, 9 Tanner Street, London, SE1 3LE.
Application: Full planning permission for installation of roof mounted solar PV system including ancillary equipment.
Public comment expiry date: 9 February 2022.

APP/2022/0084
Date validated: 18 January 2022.Site address: Ruins south west of Kingcausie House, Kingcausie Estate, Maryculter, AB12 5FR.
Applicant: Mr Henry Irvine-Fortescue c/o Garry Adam Chartered Architect Ltd, 2A, Orange Lane, Montrose, DD10 8ND.
Application: Listed building consent for the erection of a private chapel.Public comment expiry date: 17 February 2022.

Aberdeenshire Council is giving careful consideration to all legal options for minimising gull issues which are likely to include potential controls on feeding gulls, waste storage, gull proofing buildings plus nest and egg removal.

Officers will present a completed review and costed action plan to the Infrastructure Services Committee in March setting out recommendations on how the council will tackle the urban gull issue.

From time to time I get complaints about nuisance caused by gulls in the vicinity of the retail complex at Portlethen, though nowhere near as serious as the issues in Stonehaven.

More here: https://online.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/apps/news/release.aspx?newsID=8416

Aberdeenshire Council’s Roads Service will be carrying out drainage works at Netherley. Accordingly it will be necessary in the interests of public safety to close the C12K at Springfield from the B979 Netherley Road to C25K junction at Burnhead.

The road will be closed for five days from Monday 31 January.

Site notices will be erected in due course indicating the temporary restriction to traffic and the alternative route via C25K – C24K – C13K – B979 and vice versa.