Aberdeen City Council is set to ask local people, developers and key agencies to comment on proposals for more than 20,000 houses on greenfield sites, 4,500 houses on brownfield sites and over 175 hectares of business land which are needed over the next 20 years.
Proposed options for meeting these needs are outlined in a Main Issues Report which councillors are being asked to put out for public consultation over the eight week period from 16 October to 11 December 2009.
The council has to find sites for these developments to meet the city's needs as identified in the new Aberdeen City and Shire Structure Plan which was approved by Scottish Ministers in August.
The council is working on a new Local Development Plan which must show where these future developments should be built and the Main Issues Report identifies potential sites.
The comments received from the consultation process will help the council decide on what needs to go into the proposed Local Development Plan which it will publish in autumn 2010.
Earlier this year the council invited developers, landowners and others to make suggestions as to where development land might be identified. In response, greenfield sites for almost 40,000 houses and close to 300 hectares of business land were put forward as development options.
Local people were consulted about these suggestions and planning officers assessed all the proposals against a set of sustainability and deliverability criteria before drawing up the Main Issues Report.
Other planning issues examined in the report cover: transport and accessibility; infrastructure and developer contributions; city centre and retailing; housing; design; waste and energy; and sustainable construction. These were highlighted during early engagement with the Citizens Panel - City Voice, community groups and a number of key agencies.
The council will consider the report on Wednesday, 30 September and the consultation period is scheduled to run from 16 October until 11 December. A series of drop-in public meetings, each with a facilitated workshop session, will be arranged at various venues across the city during this period. They will be held in the Airyhall, city centre, Bucksburn/Dyce, Altens/Cove/Loirston, Cults, Culter, Bridge of Don, Kingswells, and Mastrick/Northfield areas.
If you have any queries regarding this, or any other news story, please contact Aberdeen City Council on: 08456 080910.