Public consultations on land for more homes for Aberdeen
10/06/08
Aberdeen City Council is launching public consultations on the potential release of land to provide more family and affordable homes in the city.
The 10-week consultation period will focus on eight sites earmarked in the Aberdeen Local Plan, as modified, for new homes in the period 2006-2010.
Feedback from the consultations will be the subject of a report to city councillors. They will then vote on whether to allow residential development on the sites in principle, subject to the consideration of detailed matters arising during the planning process.
The recommendation from planning officials to today's policy and strategy committee meeting to consult publicly on the release of the land has been triggered by current planning policies which technically stand in the way of the release.
Both the local plan and the current regional structure plan, North East Scotland Together (NEST), state that planning permission for new residential development on the land identified for the period 2006-2010 will not be granted until a review of the current structure plan has been carried out.
But Aberdeen planning officers are pointing out that no review has taken place and that a new structure plan is unlikely to be approved by Scottish Ministers until the end of 2009. They argued in their report to committee members that the 2006-2010 period is already halfway over and that there is an urgent need for more affordable and family homes in Aberdeen.
Their report said: "There is a strong argument to suggest that the sites identified in the Local Plan for this period should be released for the granting of planning permission for residential development to ensure an adequate supply of land for housing is maintained."
Committee members voted in favour of the recommendation from planners that draft Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) should go out for 10 weeks of public consultation.
The draft SPG proposes the release of eight sites allocated for 2006-2010 - so that planning applications to build homes can be lodged and considered for approval by the City Council's planning committee, subject to their suitability in terms of design, siting and mixture of house types.
The sites are:
- Greenferns, Northfield, 120 units
- Old Skene Road, Kingswells, 25
- Hazledene, Countesswells, 150
- Friarsfield and Morkeu, Cults, 280
- Earlswells House, Bieldside, 10
- Loirsbank Road, Cults, 10
- Leggart Terrace, 50
- Stationfields, Cove, 150
None of the sites is new. All were identified in the Aberdeen Local Plan, as modified, which was the subject of a lengthy public consultation process. The consultation process agreed by committee members today will not consider the merit or otherwise of the individual sites. The consultation will be solely concerned with the delivery of the sites.
Consultations will run from Fri, 20 June until Fri, 29 August.
The draft SPG and associated documentation is available on the Aberdeen City Council website at www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/aberdeenlocalplan/supplementary or from the Development Plan Team, Planning and Infrastructure, Aberdeen City Council, 9th Floor, St Nicholas House, Broad Street, Aberdeen, AB10 1BW, tel (01224) 523326, fax (01224) 636181, email pi@aberdeencity.gov.uk
If you have any queries regarding this, or any other news story, please contact Aberdeen City Council on: 01224 522000.
