Councillors push to slash Huntly Conservation Area boundaries
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HUNTLY'S Conservation Area could be cut to just the "heart of the town" – but not until 2025.
At a committee meeting today, members voted to kick start a full review of the conservation area's boundaries with a view to drastically reducing them.
Members said conservation area rules mean residents are unable to upgrade their homes to have energy-efficient windows.
Addressing the Marr Area Committee, community councillor Andrew Raeburn said Huntly properties are “falling into disrepair and poor condition” due to the regulations.
Council officers said the fastest option would be to reverse a 2013 expansion, in line with a Huntly Community Council petition.
Reversing the change would have taken six months.
However, members said this would not go far enough and Councillor Jeff Goodall (Huntly Strathbogie and Howe of Alford, Liberal Democrat) proposed stripping back the conservation area to only the most historic areas in Huntly.
This was despite advice from officers, who said doing so could take until 2025.
Councillor Robbie Withey (Huntly Strathbogie and Howe of Alford, Independent) agreed, saying he believed Huntly residents would be “willing to wait to get the right decision”.
He added: “My fear is that if we do a quick review now we will probably end up back here again in 2024 or 2025 discussing shrinking it further or abolishing it altogether.
“That would need a review then we would probably have to wait until 2027 for the new strategy.
“I think most people accept that they’ll just wait a little bit longer for a better outcome.”
He also argued that the conservation area “holds the town back” and suggested that buildings requiring protection should be listed by Historic Environment Scotland.
Despite initially agreeing with officers' suggestion to revert to the pre-2013 boundary, Cllr Withey later agreed with Councillor Jeff Goodhall's (Huntly Strathbogie and Howe of Alford, Liberal Democrat) alternative to drastically reduce the protected zone.
He said he had been told “time and time again” that residents don’t want a conservation area at all and added: “I cannot see the benefit to the people of Huntly of having this policy”.
Under Cllr Goodall's proposal, the conservation area would be limited to the town centre.
It would include Chapel Street, West Park Street, East Park Street, Park Street, Old Road, Church Street, Granary Street, Nelson Street and George Street.
The committee unanimously agreed to review the town centre boundary change.
They also asked council officers to look at any potential funding that may be available to help those who remain in the conservation area with home improvements.
