First Bus have withdrawn their Woodside plan

The withdrawal of the Woodside plans by First Bus suggest that the Directors do afterall have good common sense and a regard for the environment and the future of our Greenbelt. Thank you First Bus !

First Bus Depot plan in Woodside & Misconduct of councillors

The First Bus application for a Bus Depot and office buildings at Woodside is particularly obnoxious. The Woodside area in question is designated in the Local Plan on deposit: not only as Green Belt, but as "a particularly important component of the Green Space Network." !!

In the adopted Local Plan the site lies within the area allocated for EN1 (Lower Don Riverside Policy), stating that the area will be maintained as an attractive valley, which contributes to the landscape setting of the City. There is a presumption against development.

Over 9000 objection were raised, but First Bus appear to live in the 19th century. They don't appear to care about the environment. Of course, there are suitable brownfield sites in Aberdeen, but First Bus want a Greenfield site. They listed the following criteria for a site:

Dr Margaret Bochel, Head of Physical Development of the City in her report for the Planning Committee (20 Oct 05) says (8.60): "heavy emphasis appears to have been placed on minimising development costs by insisting on a 'clean' site". Shame on you First Bus !!

Dr Bochel concludes that this Bus proposal violates no less than 9 policies:

Dr Bochel curiously states with respect to Policy 27 (Green Belt), which says: "In the Green Belt there will be an embargo against all development unless it concerns uses for which a countryside location is essential" that the proposal: " Whilst not strictly in accordance with this definition, it can be argued that the provision of a bus depot meets the spirit of this Policy."

Dr Bochel, we at AGA hope you can sleep soundly at night !

Dr Bochel concludes: "It is recommended that, on the fine balance of argument, the application be referred to the Scottish Ministers with a willingness to approve, ..."

Let's hope that the Scottish Executive, now that they have called in the Application will have more regard to the rule of law.

AGA's expectation is that First Bus will shortly be looking for another site.

See also the Residents Group website in Woodside

Misconduct of councillors

Meanwhile the P&J (22 May 2006) reports that 11 City Councillors will be investigated by the Standards Commission. The P&J writes: "Aberdeen Councillors are preparing themselves against claims of misconduct in the vote to approve transport company First Bus' controversial new headquarters. [Under] investigation by the Standards Commission are 11 members of the City Council, including Lord Provost John Reynolds and administration leader Kate Dean. It is alledged they breached the authority's code of conduct. [Under] investigation are 10 councillors who declared an interest [and] breached the code of conduct by going on to vote. [Some] of the allegations relate to the acceptance of hospitality from First."

A perusal of the hospitality list featuring our Councillors and First Bus over the last 6 years makes interesting reading. It appears that some Councillors do not know how to conduct themselves with the probity expected in Public life.