The Planning Process


All of this demand for new houses has come from the Scottish Government. The local councils have asked to draw up plans to accommodate this anticipated growth in population.

As part of these plans, Aberdeenshire Council is in the process of drawing up a Strategic Development Plan that will describe a clear vision for the future development of the North East over the next 20 years.

For more information on the Strategic Planning Process click here.

Part of this Strategic Plan is the Local Development Plan. It is described as…

‘The Local Development Plan will contain statements of Aberdeenshire Council’s policy for assessing planning applications submitted to it, and proposals, in the form of allocations of land, for uses within different parts of Aberdeenshire.’


For more information on the Local Development Plan click here.

To aid in the consultation process while drawing up the Local Development Plan, a report called the ‘Main Issues Report’ has been released. This is basically a discussions document that is used to gather information from areas that are affected by the Local Development Plan. In Aberdeen Councils own words…

‘This document identifies choices for development in the area, in particular the locations where we feel development should and should not occur.  This is the key document for early engagement on the Local Development Plan.  Aberdeenshire Council has not taken a firm view on the strategy to be followed and we will be open to your responses to our initial ideas.’


For more information on the Main Issues Report click here.

What must be emphasised is that of this date - June 2009 - nothing is finalised in terms of how large or where these developments will be located. The Main Issues Report has been released for a 6 week public consultation period that finishes on the 6’th July 2009. It is during this period that the public can feedback views and opinions on the plan and basically can raise objections.