Update on Aberdeen City Planning Committee Meeting of 24th July
Firstly - the good news is that there is to be a public hearing on the Marischal Square Development on
28th August which may continue on till the 29th. The Chair (Councillor R Milne) noted that the Council did not need to hold a hearing but the opportunity was triggered by having more than 20 formal comments/objections
lodged with the Planning Dept. The Chair also stated in support of MUSE that they had had several public exhibitions and made changes triggered by the comments made at these exhibitions.
Councillor Stewart queried if only those who had made a formal comment/objection to the Planning Dept. would be allowed to speak at the hearing as many who had commented at the exhibitions would probably wish to have input and may not have realised their comments would not be taken into account. The chair ruled they would NOT be allowed to speak.
The Chair was asked whether some clarification could be given on the financial contract which had been made with MUSE. Planning Director Bochel stated that it was not part of Planning Dept. business so they did not have the appropriate information.
Hence there are some actions needed before the Hearing on the 28th August, which include:-
1. There is a need to find out what the financial contract with MUSE states as it is VERY pertinent to the outcome of the hearing. There is little point in again trying to attempt change to Marischal Square Plans if the initial contract
precludes options Aberdeen citizens would prefer. One need to know the context within which these plans are being created.
2. There is a need to try and obtain acceptance for others to be allowed to speak at the hearing especially when other delegations can speak to normal planning committee meetings as long as they have given prior notice.
3. Clarification is required on all the changes which the chair said MUSE had carried out in response to comments made by the public at the exhibitions. My personal understanding is that little was done except some height changes which were not strongly represented in the publics comments especially since the main criteria for height change was to able to view Marischal College which you still can't. The main demand was for an open space.
Firstly - the good news is that there is to be a public hearing on the Marischal Square Development on
28th August which may continue on till the 29th. The Chair (Councillor R Milne) noted that the Council did not need to hold a hearing but the opportunity was triggered by having more than 20 formal comments/objections
lodged with the Planning Dept. The Chair also stated in support of MUSE that they had had several public exhibitions and made changes triggered by the comments made at these exhibitions.
Councillor Stewart queried if only those who had made a formal comment/objection to the Planning Dept. would be allowed to speak at the hearing as many who had commented at the exhibitions would probably wish to have input and may not have realised their comments would not be taken into account. The chair ruled they would NOT be allowed to speak.
The Chair was asked whether some clarification could be given on the financial contract which had been made with MUSE. Planning Director Bochel stated that it was not part of Planning Dept. business so they did not have the appropriate information.
Hence there are some actions needed before the Hearing on the 28th August, which include:-
1. There is a need to find out what the financial contract with MUSE states as it is VERY pertinent to the outcome of the hearing. There is little point in again trying to attempt change to Marischal Square Plans if the initial contract
precludes options Aberdeen citizens would prefer. One need to know the context within which these plans are being created.
2. There is a need to try and obtain acceptance for others to be allowed to speak at the hearing especially when other delegations can speak to normal planning committee meetings as long as they have given prior notice.
3. Clarification is required on all the changes which the chair said MUSE had carried out in response to comments made by the public at the exhibitions. My personal understanding is that little was done except some height changes which were not strongly represented in the publics comments especially since the main criteria for height change was to able to view Marischal College which you still can't. The main demand was for an open space.
Update pre Planning Cmtee meeting -
The date for lodging any comments/objections to the Marischal Square and/or Provost Skene Developments has now passed BUT you may wish to be aware that 146 formal comments/objections were received by Aberdeen City Planning Dept.
The Council are now considering whether to have a Public hearing regarding this development. The Planning Committee will meet next Thursday 24th July to decide.
I would suggest you email the Councillors for your area to suggest they vote to hold a public hearing. As noted below over 1100 Aberdeen citizens stated at the exhibitions of this development they do NOT want these plans to go ahead.
Unfortunately I believe the leading councillors are confident they can push this present development plans through WITHOUT a public hearing. If we can get enough councillors to understand that they should be voting to support the wishes of the people that put them in power we can achieve a public hearing to get the developers to think again. The developers can surely produce a far more innovative design that will open the magnificent view of the shining granite of Marischal College and the historic frontage of Provost Skene's House for generations of Aberdonians and tourists to the city. To condemn the centre of the silver city of Aberdeen to an unsightly bunch of boring square boxes which hide the beauty of Marischal College and Provost Skene's House is a terrible act of vandalism by our council.
To find your councillor the easiest way is to put your postcode into the Aberdeen City Interactive map found at:-
http://maps.aberdeencity.gov.uk/LocalViewweb/Sites/Web_Publisher/
End of Update
This site mainly deals with the Planned Development at Marischal Square, but it has come to my notice today (19/6/14) that MUSE also propose to change the frontage of Provost Skene House. Several objections have been so far been received by Aberdeen City Planning to both the main Marischal Square Development and also to the Provost Skene House changes. However more would be better.
NOTE - date for objections to FULL Marischal Square Plans has now passed, BUT you can still object to the changes proposed to Provost Skene's House till 3/7/14.
If you wish to object or comment on the Proposed changes then click on the Button above (marked "Link to Planning Aplication") then, when you are on the Aberdeen City Planning site click "accept" to agree to their privacy regulations and then enter the reference 140755 for the Provost Skene House planned changes.
When you log in to the Aberdeen City Planning site using the above link and reference number you can lodge an objection or comment directly on their site if you wish.
Many people submitted public responses earlier at the MUSE exhibitions (approx 1100) BUT they will NOT be taken into account by the Planning Department as relevant comments or objections to the proposed plans now. You have to submit a new comment or objection NOW on the Aberdeen City Planning website.
You can see my summary of Stage 1 Public Responses by clicking HERE.
The list of public responses from which I took the above summary is on the Aberdeen City website under Marischal Square Documents. They are named Appdx FF/ Cons Feedback - Phase I.
Along with those appendices is Appdx GG/ Cons Feedback - Phase II which has just been made public although I have been trying to get them for some weeks. There were 3
rounds of exhibitions but only 2 sets of public responses seem to be available.
MUSE state in their press release that 4000 comments were made. I have been
informed the 3rd Phase exhibition was for information only and there was no feedback taken. I can only find 775 comments in the 1st Feedback appendix and 318 in the 2nd Feedback appendix. I have asked where the other 2900 comments are and if they are available. I have not had a response to that question as yet (24/6/2014).
In attempting to summarise Phase 11 comments I find they are not the verbatim comments as previously but have been assembled into different categories sometimes with repeated information. Unfortunately therefore I have to leave it to yourselves to peruse the information given (see ref above on where to find them) and decide what
people want. It can be noted that the date shown on the Phase 11 Public
Responses I received is December 2013, although they were only received by me in
printed format on 21/5/2014. I understand they were available in digital format
a few days before that.
To see the MUSE press release document stating there are 4000 comments as mentioned above click on the pdf link below
marischalsqapplicationlodgedmuse.pdf | |
File Size: | 39 kb |
File Type: |