On 19 June 2023 the Aberdeen Local Development Plan 2023 was formally adopted by the Council and constituted as part of the statutory Development Plan. It will be used to guide decisions on planning applications alongside Aberdeen Planning Guidance and Supplementary Guidance.
This archive page sets out the steps and processes involved in preparing and adopting the adopted Aberdeen Local Development Plan 2023 (ALDP 2023).
On 15 December 2022 Aberdeen City Council notified Scottish Ministers of an intention to adopt the proposed Aberdeen Local Development Plan (as modified). The intention to adopt was advertised on 16 December 2022.
On 11 January 2023 we were notified that Scottish Ministers had decided to extend the period for the consideration of the documents for an additional 28 days. The proposed Aberdeen Local Development Plan (as modified) could not be adopted before 11 February 2023.
On 10 February 2023 we were notified that Scottish Ministers had decided to extend the period for the consideration of the documents for an additional 28 days. The proposed Aberdeen Local Development Plan (as modified) cannot be adopted before 11 March 2023.
On 6 March 2023 we were notified that Scottish Ministers had decided to extend the period for the consideration of the documents for an additional 28 days. The proposed Aberdeen Local Development Plan (as modified) cannot be adopted before 8 April 2023.
On 6 April 2023 we were notified that Scottish Ministers had decided to extend the period for the consideration of the documents for an additional 28 days. The proposed Aberdeen Local Development Plan (as modified) cannot be adopted before 6 May 2023.
On 5 May 2023 we were notified that Scottish Ministers had decided to extend the period for the consideration of the documents for an additional 7 days. The proposed Aberdeen Local Development Plan (as modified) cannot be adopted before 13 May 2023.
The Reporters Report recommended a number of modifications to the Proposed Plan that was approved by Full Council in March 2020. You can view the modifications below:
An examination is a review of the unresolved representations made on the Aberdeen Local Development Plan Proposed Plan. The examination is undertaken by a person(s) appointed by Scottish Ministers called a reporter. The administration of the examination process is undertaken by the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA). The examination of the Local Development Plan by Scottish Ministers allows for independent scrutiny of unresolved objections. The examination process is on issues, not individual representations.
Information about the examination including a summary of the issues being addressed by the reporters (known as Schedule 4 Forms), Further Information Requests and Responses, Document Lists, any Hearing and Inquiry Statements, and in due course, the Recommendations by Issue Table and the Examination Report can be found at the DPEA’s website.
Latest Case Update
The report for this case has been submitted to the planning authority.
Aberdeen City Council submitted the Aberdeen Local Development Plan Proposed Plan 2020 to Scottish Ministers for examination. The Scottish Ministers appointed Allison Coard MA MPhil MRTPI to carry out the examination of the Proposed Aberdeen Local Development Plan in accordance with Section 19 of the amended Town and Country Planning Scotland Act 1997 (as amended). Additional Reporters Ms Sue Bell BSc MSc CEcol C ENV FCIEEM CWEM MCIWEM, Mr Andrew Fleming BA(Hons) BTP MRTPI, Michael McGlynn BA(Hons) Dip (Surveying) MRTPI and Mr Christopher Warren BA(Hons) DipTP MRTPI have also been appointed to support the delivery of the report.
As detailed in the Press Notice below, copies of the Proposed Aberdeen Local Development Plan can be accessed digitally on this webpage or in hard copy at the council’s offices at Marischal College, Broad Street, Aberdeen, AB10 1AB during normal opening hours and at all libraries in Aberdeen that are currently open to the public. The deposited documents are available for inspection free of charge. If any further libraries re-open to the public, the documents will also be placed there.
The Proposed Aberdeen Local Development Plan (Proposed Plan), Proposed Delivery Programme, Strategic Environmental Assessment Environmental Report and associated background documents were presented to, and approved by, Full Council on Monday 2 March 2020. The documents were published as part of a statutory period of representation in public which took place between 20 May 2020 and 31 August 2020.
We are currently processing the representations submitted and these will be made available online in due course. Further details on next steps were provided in the Development Plan Scheme 2020 and guidance in an Advice Note.
You can view the documents via the links below.
Please note some of the PDF files below are large and may take time to open.
Environmental Report: Strategic Environmental Assessment and Habitats Regulations Appraisal
An interactive story map based for the Proposed Plan has been created. The story map is an information tool which allows users to interacted with and understand the Proposed Plan's map based policies. It should not be considered as a substitute for the Proposed Plan but as a complementary tool to aid understanding.
Due to the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 and associated national policy on social/physical distancing, we had to amend our consultation arrangements including increasing the consultation period, publication of documents and public meetings. Where possible, correspondence, communication and publicity (including public inspection of documents) will continue to be by electronic means. Further details were provided in the Development Plan Scheme 2020 and guidance in an Advice Note. A Privacy Statement has also been prepared.
A statutory period of consultation was undertaken from 20 May to the 31 August 2020 for the Proposed Local Development Plan 2020. As a result close to 1,200 representations were received and are published in line with our data protection requirements. The published representations on the Proposed Local Development Plan 2020 contain the views of the respondents and are not the views of Aberdeen City Council.
The representations received can be viewed below:
The associated background documents are papers used to inform the development of the Proposed Local Development Plan.
You can view the documents via the links below. Please note some of the PDF files below are large and may take time to open.
The Schedule 4 forms are the response to representations received during the MIR consultation.
Combined map shows existing and new opportunity sites and bids for development received at Pre-MIR and MIR stage.
The report shows the assessment of sites submitted against a set criteria.
This study was updated in 2019, identifies potential brownfield housing sites and estimates the number of housing units these sites are likely to produce. This helps establish how many housing allocations the Proposed Local Development Plan should identify.
Details a number of transport projects and interventions which will support the proposals in the Proposed Local Development Plan.
Retail Study
Aberdeen City Council commissioned an update to the 2013 Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Retail Study (ACARS) to provide an assessment of retail, leisure and related floorspace provision within Aberdeen City and to assess potential future demand and supply for retail and leisure floorspace for the next 15 years. This made a number of recommendations and has been used to inform preparation of the Proposed Aberdeen Local Development Plan.
A feasibility study into the Aberdeen Energy Transition Zone at Aberdeen Harbour South.
A Strategic Flood Risk Assessment has been undertaken to satisfy the requirements placed on local authorities under section 1 of the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009. This requires local authorities to exercise their flood risk related functions with a view to reducing overall flood risk and promoting sustainable flood risk management. The assessment looks at a number of potential sources of flood risk which may be relevant for development in Aberdeen.
An Onshore Wind Spatial Framework has been prepared to assess the opportunities for identifying areas suitable for wind turbine developments. Limited areas were identified as suitable for wind turbine development using the guidance within Scottish Planning Policy. However, all locations are covered by greenbelt policy which does not identify it as a suitable location for wind turbine development. The countryside surrounding Aberdeen within the local authority boundary is limited to a small area and together with the presence of Aberdeen Airport there is not the scope to identify suitable sites for large scale wind farms.
The Main Issues Report (MIR) was published in Spring 2019 and was designed to gather views on specific proposals and sets out options for dealing with the key planning matters facing Aberdeen over the next 20 years. We undertook a 10-week public consultation from 4 March 2019 to 13 May 2019 to consult the public and other stakeholders on the content of the MIR.
You can view the documents via the links below.
Please note some of the PDF files below are large and may take time to open.
A total of 633 representations were received.
The issues raised in the MIR representations were reviewed and informed preparation of the Proposed Aberdeen Local Development Plan (PALDP). This was reported to Full Council in March 2020 and once published there will be a further opportunity to comment on the set view of Aberdeen City Council.
It is vital we keep the Local Development Plan as up to date as possible to ensure it responds to new issues and takes into account the evolving needs of local communities and businesses. The pre-main issues stage is the time for us to find out what the people of Aberdeen think are the main planning issues the next Local Development Plan needs to address.
The review of the Plan started with the non-statutory Pre-main issues consultation, which ran from 19 March to 28 May 2018. If you want to see copies of the questionnaires, or have a look at the presentation we gave to Community Councils, developers and agents, and key agencies please see the Related Documents section below.
During the consultation we invited people to complete a place standard, submit questionnaires, and submit development bids. The development bids is otherwise known as 'call for sites'. You can find the responses we received below. Please note some of these files are large and may take some time to download
Questionnaires were made available for people to submit their representations. We received 56 representations. Please use the links below to view the representations we received.
We received 146 development bids from developers and landowners to have sites included in the Main Issues Report.
The Key Map shows the development bids received, with the whole of Aberdeen City as an A3 base map. The development options are ordered by Electoral Ward (1 to 13, listed below). There is an A3 map for each Ward showing the development bids received in that area. Each site is labelled with a reference number (for example "B0910"). Use that number to find the relevant development bids submission listed below the map for each ward.
Please note, these maps simply show all of the development bids we received and do not indicate which are preferred and alternative options. Options were discussed in the Main Issues Report. You should also note that these maps do not show existing Local Development Plan allocations.
Many of the PDFs are large files and may take some time to open.
| Bids | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| B0401 - Land at Granitehill Road | B0402 - Former Factory, Granitehill Road | B0403 - Mastrick Clinic | B0404 - Northfield Medical Practice |
No bids received for this ward.
| Bids | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| B0801 - Pittodrie | B0802 - Land adjacent to Granary, Fredrick Street | B0803 - Resource Centre City Hospital | B0804 - Urquhart Building City Hospital |
| Bids | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| B1001 - Dobbies | B1002 - Hayfield | B1003 - Land at Phase 1 NE Countesswells | B1004 - Jessiefield and Smithfield |
| B1005 - Bellfield Farm | |||
| Bids | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| B1201 - Crombie Road Rezoning | B1202 - Harbour City North Dee Quarter | B1203 - Former Torry Nursery Oscar Road | |
You can read archived Development Plan Schemes below:
You can read archived Newsletters below: