Blackdog housing plan deferred
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Councillors have deferred a decision on a new residential development of 284 homes at Blackdog.
The Formartine Area Committee discussed the application by Kirkwood Homes Ltd at their latest online meeting on Tuesday.
The development is set to include a mix of homes consisting of one to five-bed properties in a variety of styles from terraced and flats through to individual properties.
The proposed site is located on undeveloped land to the east of Blackdog Industrial Estate and south west of the Blackdog Rifle Range.
Planning permission in principle was originally granted back in 2019 for a development of 550 homes, education and community use as associated infrastructure in the area, however a review was carried out afterwards.
Following this, the school site was removed and the proposed layout was altered leaving in the capacity for the new primary school it be required at a later date.
Belhelvie Community Council noted that residents were disappointed that a new school has not been included in the development noting that there are education constraints at Balmedie.
Community facilities are still being proposed however they could now be built across the AWPR slip road and away from the site.
The Ministry of Defence and Environmental Health had raised concerns about potential noise nuisance from the nearby rifle range on residents.
A noise impact assessment carried out prior to the meeting revealed that 11 properties to the north of the development would be affected during daytime firing hours.
As a solution to this it has been proposed that a 2.4m high close boarded fence be erected along the northern boundary of the site as well as including high specification windows on the properties to limit the noise inside the homes.
Councillors were informed at the meeting that the planning service and Environmental Health had some concerns about night time noise levels within bedrooms of properties.
It has been suggested that a “closed windows” approach be taken to mitigate this however the planning service has stated that they are “not keen to promote” this method.
Commenting at the meeting councillor Paul Johnston said that he would be in favour of the development going ahead but added that he didn’t believe he had enough information to make a decision.
He added: “I’m unhappy that you would end up with a condition that people have to keep windows closed because of noise.
"That doesn’t sound like a good solution, doesn’t sound like a long-term one, seems fraught with the possibility of things going wrong and I would rather have a layout, siting and design solution to that as mitigation.”
He moved a motion to defer the application and this was supported by the rest of the committee.
It will be deferred to get more information on sound concerns to the north of the site and future community facility provision.
