Deadline nears for people to give views on Aberdeenshire’s open spaces
Aberdeenshire residents have been reminded that they only have until, Friday, July 26 to give their views on how the region’s open spaces are for play, recreation and sport.
Following on from the successful engagement with school pupils in the spring, the local authority is now seeking views from young people and adults on its draft Open Space Audit and draft Play Sufficiency Assessment.
These consider how much open space there is for play, recreation and sport, how accessible they are - and their quality - across 92 settlements in Aberdeenshire.
These documents will inform the next Aberdeenshire Local Development Plan and the Open Space Strategy.
People can let the council know if they think there are enough local spaces for sports, playing, walking, relaxing - or natural spaces such as woodland where they live, or whether children and adults have nowhere to go.
The survey can be found online here.
Councillor Alan Turner, chairman of the council’s infrastructure services committee, said: “I would urge everyone to study the information we have collected and to complete our survey which will give us an even greater insight into what our communities think of our open spaces.
“It is critical that we hear the views of those who live beside or use our open space to ensure we do not lose sight of the importance of these areas to local people.”
ISC vice-chairwoman councillor Isobel Davidson said: “We will use the information gathered to develop a range of options and actions which will help protect identified open spaces from development in the Local Development Plan.
“It will also help inform the types of open space which new development should provide to enhance communities and, crucially, provide us with a clear picture of how our Landscape Services teams will have to manage and maintain our open spaces.”
