Arduthie Gardens
STONEHAVEN and District Community Council (SDCC) have been left with more questions about the Council build at Arduthie Gardens following a meeting at Aberdeenshire Council to discuss issues with the design.
Discussions about the build at Arduthie Gardens have been frequent at the SDCC meetings following the claims that the roof line being built does not reflect what was presented in the planning application.
Two members of the Community Council attended a meeting with representatives from Aberdeenshire Council to discuss the build and discover what went wrong. They said the outcome of the meeting was basically “what is done is done.” However, when reporting back to SDCC about what went on at the meeting one Community Councillor said he was surprised when during the meeting one representative appeared to imply that the build at Arduthie Gardens was somehow linked to the building of the new care home. They were surprised as the two are separate projects. He said that when he questioned them about the comment at the meeting the Council representative said he meant “linked financially.”
This incident opened up a whole new set of questions about the applications for both Arduthie Gardens and the care home, as at the time of the care home being designed, questions had been asked about the possibility of a South entrance to the facility and this was refused, The SDCC then speculated that the South entrance refusal may have due to plans for the building of the flats on Arduthie Gardens.
This discussion of the care home and Arduthie gardens build caused a number of issues about planning to come to the surface. One Community Councillor described the process as “flawed” asking who the planning department answered to. In reply, Councillor Wendy Agnew said: “They answer to us.” However it was clear that the Councillors were frustrated by the situation. Councillor Mike Sullivan expressed his frustration over the two developments and explained that the four Stonehaven Councillors were out voted by the other Councillors on the area committee. He said: “I think it is the most deplorable demonstration of local government.” This was echoed by the other Stonehaven Councillors with Councillor Graeme Clark describing the process as “inept” and Councillor Wendy Agnew said: “we have been duped with this build.”
The Community Council now want to know what lessons have been learned from Arduthie Gardens as they worry that this will happen again.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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