Please don't go to sleep. This is important.
The Strategic Plan sets out in outline what the Local Development Plans have to say. And they determine whether planning applications are granted. It you do - or don't - want development in that field near you. THIS IS YOUR BEST OPPORTUNITY TO INFLUENCE.
The new plan is not greatly different to the old except it takes development out to 2035 with, for example, in the Ellon-Blackdog corridor, in addition to sites for 825 houses already in the pipeline (I guess mainly Castle Meadows and Trump/Menie), another 800 are planned up to 2016 with a further 1,500 to 2026 and 1,500 to 2035. That is roughly equivalent to a whole extra Ellon.
The plan claims to be concerned about climate change and economic development and contains an interesting section on waste with the Ellon-Blackdog corridor identified as an area of search for new waste processing facilities.
Please look at the documents at http://www.aberdeencityandshire-sdpa.gov.uk/DevelopmentPlan/StrategicDevelopmentPlan/2011_10_07MainIssuesReport.asp.
I'll comment more here once I have digested all the documents but I am happy to answer your queries here.
Showing posts with label ellon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ellon. Show all posts
Ellon Academy
Next weeks Formartine Area Committee will, I hope, finally decide on the site for the new Ellon Academy. After a long process and having explored many options, it now looks like the Academy will be sited south of the river at Cromleybank with a new footbridge over the river around the Meadows helping link the Academy to the town in the short term.
This fits with the Local Plan, keeps the school as close to the town centre as possible and fits with the expectations of the town.
Now I know the offer of land to the north looks attractive to some. But the land is only worth £9m if it is at development land value - and it is agricultural land. I have opposed development to the north of the bypass; we need to bring the town together not simply add more peripheral estates to the edges. The Cromleybank development option was far superior and the Academy was an integral part of the plan. We would lose a lot in the long term to change strategy now.
This fits with the Local Plan, keeps the school as close to the town centre as possible and fits with the expectations of the town.
Now I know the offer of land to the north looks attractive to some. But the land is only worth £9m if it is at development land value - and it is agricultural land. I have opposed development to the north of the bypass; we need to bring the town together not simply add more peripheral estates to the edges. The Cromleybank development option was far superior and the Academy was an integral part of the plan. We would lose a lot in the long term to change strategy now.
Castle Park Planning Application
I am glad that Aberdeenshire has decided to approve this scheme, We all agreed that the process of involvement with the town via the Enquiry by Design was an exemplar that we would urge other developers to seek to emulate. The idea of high density, high quality, walk-able neighbourhoods, where the public realm focuses on people rather than cars, has become common currency in planning and development circles but as yet there are no large scale examples in Scotland.
So I am pleased that we now have in the pipeline a development at the new higher densities and high quality of design that were called for by the then Planning Minister Sam Galbraith a decade ago. He asked "Where are the conservation areas of the future?" and I hope that with this bold step Ellon has answered with a very loud "here".
Process concern
As I am getting some stick here, can I just mention that members of the Formartine Committee (Ellon ones in bold) split
Grant: Cllrs Duncan, Hendry, Johnston, Merson, Storr.
Refuse: Davidson, Gifford, Loveday, Norrie, Owen, Robertson.
Planning Aid Training
Panning Aid, Scotland's Planning Advice Charity, is holding a day long session on Planning Procedure on Saturday 27th November from 10am-4pm , in the Kirk Centre, Station Road, Ellon AB41 9AE.
It is targeting at Community Council members but those interested can also attend so if you wish to register for the event, please let Robert McGregor know by Wednesday 24th for catering numbers.
For more information on Planning Aid for Scotland please see their website
at - http://www.
Robert McGregor
Area Committee Officer
It is targeting at Community Council members but those interested can also attend so if you wish to register for the event, please let Robert McGregor know by Wednesday 24th for catering numbers.
For more information on Planning Aid for Scotland please see their website
at - http://www.
Robert McGregor
Area Committee Officer
Direct Dial: 01358 726405
Email: robert.mcgregor@aberdeenshire.
Email: robert.mcgregor@aberdeenshire.
Ellon Planning for Real
It's been a week for consultations.
Encouraged by the course director, I went to the opening of the Elsick design charette and looked into the workshop on Friday afternoon. It seems to be a very open consultation exercise with real efforts to involve the local community with special sessions for school children and the residents who are most affected.
And today was a Planning for Real event in Ellon. This was perhaps mistimed with the deadline for Local Development plan representations being yesterday but ...
Much attention was focused on the proposed sites for Ellon Academy. 6 sites were shown but I am still of the view that only the Cromleybank sites are viable. Discussions were lively and people really wanted to engage. I tried my best to explain the likely constraints and I think that most people share my view that only the Cromleybank sites are viable.
On the wider issues, there were a wide variety of suggestions of how Ellon could be improved and I'll await a full analysis of this before commenting.
However I do have one serious concern about the exercise. When I left at about 2pm, only one person in the 19-30 age range had shown up. How can we better engage with this age range?- they'll have to live with any decision that flow from the day.
Encouraged by the course director, I went to the opening of the Elsick design charette and looked into the workshop on Friday afternoon. It seems to be a very open consultation exercise with real efforts to involve the local community with special sessions for school children and the residents who are most affected.
And today was a Planning for Real event in Ellon. This was perhaps mistimed with the deadline for Local Development plan representations being yesterday but ...
Much attention was focused on the proposed sites for Ellon Academy. 6 sites were shown but I am still of the view that only the Cromleybank sites are viable. Discussions were lively and people really wanted to engage. I tried my best to explain the likely constraints and I think that most people share my view that only the Cromleybank sites are viable.
On the wider issues, there were a wide variety of suggestions of how Ellon could be improved and I'll await a full analysis of this before commenting.
However I do have one serious concern about the exercise. When I left at about 2pm, only one person in the 19-30 age range had shown up. How can we better engage with this age range?- they'll have to live with any decision that flow from the day.
Local Development Plan
We are in the last few days of the new Development Plan consultation period. So if you do have comments to make, please make sure you do so before 1st October. You can email ldp@aberdeenshire.gov.uk with you contribution but do be sure to give your contact details, clearly reference which bit of the plan or supplementary guidance you are concerned about and exactly what is you concern. And finally clearly state what Modification you suggest.
I do not find the online form or the pdf form they provide easy to use. So I suggest that you make your representation being careful to include all the required information and leave council officers to sort out the format.
I have made two submissions.
Along with my other Democratic Group colleagues, I seek to embed the requirements of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 as required by Section 72. The Aberdeenshire proposed local development plan does not do this.
Secondly, the Council is gradually working their way to needing to reserve land within Cromleybank for the new Ellon Academy. The developer is content with this. The Community Council is content with this. This is the best option for the traders. So I've asked that the "may be required" is changed to "will be required" so that we can get on with it. This is urgent as the funding from the Scottish Government is time limited and the timetable is looking increasingly tight.
It's slightly odd being a councillor asking for amendments to the Council's plan by this route. But it's the best chance for common sense to prevail.
I do not find the online form or the pdf form they provide easy to use. So I suggest that you make your representation being careful to include all the required information and leave council officers to sort out the format.
I have made two submissions.
Along with my other Democratic Group colleagues, I seek to embed the requirements of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 as required by Section 72. The Aberdeenshire proposed local development plan does not do this.
Secondly, the Council is gradually working their way to needing to reserve land within Cromleybank for the new Ellon Academy. The developer is content with this. The Community Council is content with this. This is the best option for the traders. So I've asked that the "may be required" is changed to "will be required" so that we can get on with it. This is urgent as the funding from the Scottish Government is time limited and the timetable is looking increasingly tight.
It's slightly odd being a councillor asking for amendments to the Council's plan by this route. But it's the best chance for common sense to prevail.
Site for a new Ellon Academy
Last Tuesday, Formartine Area Committee discussed 6 possible sites for the new Ellon Academy and it was clear that there was a consensus about Options 2 and 3 which would put the Academy into the planned Cromleybank development. These were the options clearly favoured by Ellon Community Council the previous day at a special meeting. Councillors were all also agreed that a second road bridge across the Ythan was needed at an early point to make the development work with the rest of the Town (and stop Bridge St seizing up!).
However, my colleagues wouldn't simply made the decision - they expressed a preference for Options 2 and 3 but left it open to be somewhere else. And it seems as if they are willing to totally revisit the agreement to development Cromleybank in the Local Plan. With Aberdeenshire Council due to approve the Local Plan on 24th June and no meeting of the Formartine Area Committee in the meantime, this risks this very important decision regarding Ellon having to be taken by Infrastructure Services which only has one representative of the area on it - or by the full council of 68 members.
I believe that local councillors working with local people and the Community Council should be calling the shots on this and that my colleagues have done the town a dis-service by dithering rather than making a decision.
However, my colleagues wouldn't simply made the decision - they expressed a preference for Options 2 and 3 but left it open to be somewhere else. And it seems as if they are willing to totally revisit the agreement to development Cromleybank in the Local Plan. With Aberdeenshire Council due to approve the Local Plan on 24th June and no meeting of the Formartine Area Committee in the meantime, this risks this very important decision regarding Ellon having to be taken by Infrastructure Services which only has one representative of the area on it - or by the full council of 68 members.
I believe that local councillors working with local people and the Community Council should be calling the shots on this and that my colleagues have done the town a dis-service by dithering rather than making a decision.
Gordon Park Shelter Progress - part 3
The appalling weather has delayed work a little. Traditional lime mortar doesn't like torrents of rain but it is still hoped that the Shelter will be complete next week.
Do call past and say Hello to the master craftsmen and their trainees.
Floods
My sympathy to the family of Mr Sandy Henderson who died when the tractor he was driving was swept away in floods yesterday. It was brave and caring of Mr Henderson to go to the aid of animals trapped by flood water. The outcome is deeply sad.
Flood water can be very dangerous. The photos of the Ythan today where the water is at a twenty-year high show just how easy it is to lose the border between river and land. Please be careful at the water's edge as the flow is currently very rapid..
Right: the Ythan engulfing the right bank below the footbridge at Gordon Park
Left: Above the Gordon Park footbridge
Right: looking north from the F&B Way Viaduct.
Flood water can be very dangerous. The photos of the Ythan today where the water is at a twenty-year high show just how easy it is to lose the border between river and land. Please be careful at the water's edge as the flow is currently very rapid..
Right: the Ythan engulfing the right bank below the footbridge at Gordon Park
Left: Above the Gordon Park footbridge
Right: looking north from the F&B Way Viaduct.
Gordon Park Shelter : Foundations and Wall
Just a quick progress report. The guys tell me that the project is on schedule and the woodwork should appear next week.
Photos of the first steps of the woodwork are posted below.
Photos of the first steps of the woodwork are posted below.
Gordon Park Shelter - first steps
The shelter is a gift to the town from the Princes Foundation with much of the work being done by the trainees who will be working in wood, stone and slate as the shelter is built.
The octagonal shelter involves some interesting angles!
The guys will be one site next week so do call part to say hello.
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