Kincardine Estate's consultants Ironside Farrar organised two public consultation events in 2008 concerning the land to the south-west of the village.
There was considerable public participation and many points raised were incorporated into the r
esulting Design Guide.
The purpose of this work was to try and identify how a truly high quality design of housing and commercial workspace can be applied to the land designated in the existing Aberdeenshire Local Plan (ALP).
Note the difference between ALDP and ALP.
Concomitant with the above exercise Aberdeenshire Council started on their next phase of local planning, the ALDP, in which they requested that landowners put forward ideas for parcels of land that could be considered for development over the longer term.
The City and Shire Strategic Plan has already identified the need for tens of thousands of additional houses before 2031.
Kincardine Estate responded to that request, as it has to previous local plans in their formative stages, by putting forward areas of land that it feels will be suitable and practical for development in the longer term.
In its response, the estate clearly identifies the difference between the land already covered in the consultation for the present ALP and the additional land identified for the ALDP as a response to the council's request stating:
"The proposals in this submission for the ALDP are additional to the above (i.e. the land in the ALP).
It is proposed to take a similar approach and to apply similar principles to the new area of land as contained in the attached design guide.
Also we would conduct similar local community consultation - the details of the consultation carried out as part of the process in drafting the existing Design Guide are given therein."
Having finalised the Design Guide for the land in the ALP to the south-west of the village, the estate approached the council with a view to them adopting the principles enshrined therein into the ALP.
The council declined, largely because of the work pressure involved in the new ALDP.
Instead it was agreed that the area and Design Guide be included in the submission for the ALDP.
Mr Nixon's implication that the estate is intent on applying the consultation already carried out to the additional areas of land is misleading and doesn't reflect our true intentions.
Space doesn't permit me to reiterate the entire contents of the submission for the ALDP but I would encourage people to read it in its entirety.
Yours etc
Andrew Bradford.
Kincardine Estate Office
Kincardine O'Neill
