An Aberdeen community was celebrating last night after winning its battle to block plans to build 400 homes.

Stewart Milne Homes appears to have failed in its attempt to revive controversial proposals for a housing scheme at Gillahill, Kingswells.

It was one of 126 sites identified by developers last year for inclusion in the city’s next local development plan. The list was later whittled down to 48 by council officials.

Aberdeen City Council has now published the results of last year’s eight-week consultation – with more than half of the 1,000 written submissions coming from the Kingswells area.

In a report to be discussed by councillors next week, officials say the capacity at Kingswells Primary has reduced, meaning it could no longer cope with the scale of development originally proposed.

It is suggested that the plan for 400 homes at Gillahill is not taken forward to the draft local development plan, although two other schemes could still see 170 houses built in the at Kingswells area.

Kingswells Community Council chairwoman Barrie Buchan said: “We are delighted to hear that Gillahill has been removed from the development plan. The results of the public consultation have been taken into account on this.

“Gillahill is a very valuable area of Aberdeen and it’s a benefit to all people in Aberdeen. We are delighted.”

Changes will need to be made to the development plan to accommodate the removal of Gillahill, so the city can meet a timetable in the region’s structure plan for the construction of 36,000 new homes over the next 20 years.

Officials propose bringing forward the building of 250 homes in a 3,000-house development at Countesswells.

The timetable had originally envisaged the building of 1,900 homes at Countesswells over the next five years, with a further 1,100 by 2023.