Councillors to review Inverurie flats plan bid
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A review will be carried by members of Aberdeenshire Council's Local Review Board this week into plans to build a block of flats next to a police station in Inverurie.
Police Scotland lodged plans to build nine two-bedroom flats in a three-storey block on land next to the police station on Blackhall Road in Inverurie back in September 2019.
However to make way for the development, 61 trees would need to be chopped down.
The proposal formed part of the force's wider programme to dispose of land and unused premises across the country as the result of a review, which has seen several properties, such as the former station at Kemnay take on new owners.
Last December, Dundee-based agents Graham+Sibbald submitted a request to Aberdeenshire Council to get formal feedback on the potential development of the site where two potential options were presented to the council: a nine-flat residential scheme or a commercial drive-thru development.
The council recommended the flat plan but warned that mature trees at the site are registered on the ancient woodland inventory as "long-established".
Accordingly a refusal notice was issued by planners which stated: "The applicant has not satisfactorily demonstrated a public, economic or social benefit that outweighs the loss of the area designated as ancient woodland and has not demonstrated that there is no reasonable alternative site for the development.
As the application did not go before members of the area committee, the only appeal route open for the plans are to go before members of the Local Review Board which is made up of councillors from across Aberdeenshire which will meet on Friday.
In a notice of review, agents Graham & Sibbald said: “The woodland on site is of predominantly low quality, is situated in a largely urban setting and therefore does not befit its designation as ancient woodland.
“Aberdeenshire Council has not appropriately weighed this against the substantial public economic benefit that the development of the site can deliver – in the region of £63,000 towards local infrastructure.
“The council has also not given appropriate consideration to the social benefit created by the provision of two additional affordable housing units or the addition of further choice to the local housing market that the proposal will provide.”
