Council Archives - Page 22 of 62

The Siege Of Heathryfold – An Update

Aberdeen City, Featured, Information 5 Responses »

Oct 292013

The city was shocked in the summer when it emerged that a police incident, reported as a stand-off between police and an alleged armed individual in an Aberdeen house, turned out to be a hoax. The reverberations are still being felt but questions remain unanswered.

The history

7 June 2013 – armed police surround an empty property, on reports that a gunman is inside. The flat was empty.

9 June 2013 – George Copland, occupier of the council flat at the centre of the siege is arrested in the early hours at his girlfriend’s flat. After 12-13 hours in custody, he is released.

27 October 2013 – Suzanne Kelly updates Aberdeen Voice readers on what appears to unfinished business and an injustice which continues to affect an innocent citizen.

Mr Copland’s flat was all but destroyed as the police tore the property apart in the search for the weapon allegedly brandished in the empty flat. They came up with a feather duster, a broken remote control toy and a legal air gun, but nothing illegal.
Mr Copland alleges he was prevented from taking necessary medicine while in custody, and further alleges that the police told him the name of one of the so-called witnesses.

You may think that in the ensuing months he would have been compensated, as is expected when police searches are found to be wrong and cause an innocent party to suffer loss. You may also have thought that a police apology would be in order, since no-one can quite explain why he was arrested days after the siege took place.

You may also think that Aberdeen City Council, aware of a national news story centred on a flat they owned and managed, would have ensured that the occupant was looked after.

Apology and repairs?

Aberdeen Voice can confirm that there has been no compensation, no apology and not even a proper front door replacement to date.

There have been renewed calls by Aberdeen Voice for the police and the Council’s Housing and Environment section to explain the delays in righting the wrongs. The police have now been asked to release the arrest record and provide explanations as to how they managed the situation.

Questions for the police include:-

* Did they disclose the name of a witness to Copland?

* Why did they arrest him in the first place?

* If they suspected there was a weapon, why did they wait days before making an arrest?

* What is the background of the witnesses? Do they have any prior police records? What do their statements say? How could they have seen anyone in an empty flat?

* Knowing of Copland’s health issues, are they adding unnecessarily to the stress they have caused by holding back on compensation and an apology?

The Council has been asked to explain why it takes four months to replace what they must have known to be a battered–in door in a vulnerable person’s home. In response to requests made by politicians, they claim they only knew on 21 September that a door would need to be ordered.

Whilst it may be a security door that is required, it beggars belief that a council can have such an appalling procurement system. What if someone even more vulnerable than George Copland didn’t have a secure front door all this time?

Aberdeen Voice will bring you answers as soon as it gets further information, but getting anything released has proven difficult. Whilst we cannot dispute that the siege was carried out to protect the public, no-one is protecting Copland, who was entirely innocent. Could any of our institutions be trying to cover their tracks?

Benefit

There has been one bright spot. Glasgow musician Deek Allan of Oi Polloi heard about the situation, and held a benefit gig for Copland. The band, its friends and relatives sent approximately £370, which was greatly appreciated.

Copland’s situation

In the meantime George Copland, who already faces ongoing challenges with his health, is feeling helpless and defeated. He can’t face starting the massive clean-up that should be done on his flat, which arguably should be paid for by the police.

He is reluctant to go out; he feels his neighbours are assuming he must have done something wrong to have been treated this way without compensation or apology.

He told Voice:

“This is a nightmare. The whole thing has put me back [he has had some very troubling thoughts since the siege and the arrest]. I can’t face going out much. It’s too much”

Aberdeen Voice will redouble its efforts to get to the truth, and to get compensation. A follow-up will appear within a week. Thanks are due to the politicians who are trying to help behind the scenes, but this is a situation that needs immediate resolution.

It happened to be Copland who was unjustly accused, arrested and whose home and contents were violated. Who will it be next time if we don’t find out the whole truth and learn lessons now?

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Bipeds, By-passes And Bye-bye Responsibility – A Response

Aberdeen City, Environment, Opinion No Responses »

Oct 212013

Voice reader Frank Paterson has been moved sufficiently by Fin Hall’s recent article on traffic management, Bipeds, by-passes and bye-bye responsibility, to add his own views. ‘It’s good for Aberdeen Voice to publish an article on such an important and contentious issue’, he says. Thank you, Frank.

With the greatest of respect to the writer, the article is a good reflection of mainstream NE thinking on transport, in grousing about congestion but failing to suggest ways of dealing with it, apart from demanding more road building.
This, as previous Voice articles have explained, will only exacerbate the problem.

This really is vital issue as the growth in road traffic is presenting an enormous threat to the environment and economy of Aberdeen.

Far more importantly however, it is disastrous to people’s health. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced that air pollution is officially a cause of lung and bowel cancer.

The writer urges Aberdeen drivers to be more considerate without taking into account Aberdeen’s transport system’s role in causing poor behaviour. The system is not only a complete embarrassment, but is also completely dysfunctional.

It appears to me that the article was unkind to George Kilbride, who was only attempting to action what transport managers throughout the world know to be the only viable solution to congestion and pollution, that is, modal shift in transport use. With sufficient political will this is achievable, as can be demonstrated by examples from many world cities.

unwillingness to change lifestyles is the root cause of the discontent expressed

However, experience shows that attempting to accommodate the current problems of motor transport by demand management, which has been the case up till now, results merely in the relocation of congestion.

This continues to be the case with the proposed AWPR and Third Don Crossing.

The footprint of cars and goods vehicles is too large, and fuel combustion too great, for individualised motorised travel. An aspiration of many is to drive the largest of vehicles but fundamentally there is not enough room within Aberdeen, and air quality is too poor, to accommodate current traffic comfortably, let alone more and larger vehicles.

Aberdeenshire Council’s Local Transport Strategy 2012 states (Para 8/28):

“The guiding principle of the LTS aims to encourage individuals to change their travel behaviour. If we are to succeed in achieving this, our citizens must feel comfortable and safe whether walking, cycling or using public transport or when choosing to drive”

Transport professionals are clear on what must be done, but politicians are afraid to act, so an unwillingness to change lifestyles is the root cause of the discontent expressed in the previous article. Anger and bewilderment will increase along with congestion until the inevitable restrictions on car use are enforced by necessity of space and clean air.

However, the perennial congestion at Aberdeen’s traffic pinch points demonstrates how much inconvenience car users are willing to endure before shifting to more sensible modes of travel.

Like the public smoking ban, the occupation of public highways by tons of steel and the discharge of combustion waste into the air people breathe, will need to be curtailed eventually. This will be necessary for everyone’s benefit, despite the inevitable outcry.

WHO report: http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/iarcnews/pdf/pr221_E.pdf
Aberdeenshire Council Local Transport Strategy 2012: http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/transportation/lts/index.asp

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Youth Councillors Back Calls For Ban On Religion On Education Committees

Aberdeen City, Information No Responses »

Oct 212013

Two city youth councillors, Barry Black and Kenneth Watt, have backed a Scottish Parliament motion calling for the legislation making three religious figures on local authorities’ education committees necessary to be banned.

Instead of the religious committee members, Barry and Kenneth
believe that the positions should be filled by young people, who can be taken from democratically elected bodies such as the Scottish Youth Parliament or the Aberdeen City Youth Council.

Kenneth said:

“It is not correct in 2013 to have religious figureheads – who nobody elected and many disagree with – to be making decisions about school children.

“I firmly believe that multiculturalism should be a key part of religion in faith in school, however, this in no way makes it appropriate to have unelected people deciding the budget and crucial decisions for schools.

“The majority of young people have no affiliation to religion and by only selecting religious representatives from a faith with a ‘place of worship,’ minority faith groups and those who do not follow religion are not represented.”

Barry said:

“We have officially recognised youth groups at both national and local level – it would be a much better idea to utilise an elected young person to give input in to their education.

“Young people should be empowered to make decisions about what matters to them.”

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Friends Of UTG Reject Halliday Plans At AGM

Aberdeen City, News 2 Responses »

Oct 182013

With thanks to Kenneth Watt.

The Friends of Union Terrace Gardens held their AGM on Saturday Oct 12. The meeting celebrated the group’s achievements over the past year, and discussed plans being proposed for the future of the gardens.

Robin Mcintosh was re-elected as chair of the group which seeks to campaign and act to improve and preserve the city’s green heart.

The group discussed John Halliday’s proposals to raise the gardens and voted to reject the outline plans on the grounds that it would involve too much structural change as well as the possibility of a car park under the park.

Also on the agenda was a discussion with council leader Barney Crockett who reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to keeping UTG as a Victorian park. He took on board feedback from the group who continued to express an appetite for more council-supported investment and improvements.

Robin Mcintosh said:

“Today’s meeting allowed us reflect on our successes from the last year: hundreds of new plants; secured funding for new furniture; sound relationships with council gardeners as well as being taken seriously in decisions being taken about the park at administration level.”

“The group was unanimous in its rejection for Halliday’s plans and instead looked to develop further our own alternative vision for the Gardens. Councillor Crockett was keen to hear our views and provided an insight in to what the administration in considering about city centre regeneration.”

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Union Terrace Gardens – The Endgame Is Nigh

Aberdeen City, Featured, News, Opinion 4 Responses »

Oct 172013

The controversy over Union Terrace Gardens has flared up again and, as per form, the usual agendas, fact-free PR and emotional twaddle is to the fore. So what’s going on? Mike Shepherd writes.

Let’s start with the John Halliday plans that have been so much in the local papers recently. John Halliday is a local architect and is the Halliday as in Halliday – Fraser – Munro, the company that drew up the original technical feasibility study for the City Garden Project.
They also created the plans for the Triple Kirks office block and the proposed Muse development on the St Nicholas House site.

John Halliday provided the plans pro bono as an illustration of what could be done with the gardens. They were not commissioned by anyone, e.g. the Council or Sir Ian Wood.

His focus has been on moving the railway station buildings to an area under and around Union Bridge. This would allow direct escalator / lift access to the station from Union Street via the north side of the bridge (and is actually not a bad idea).

He also envisages decking over the road and existing railway. The lower level of Union Terrace Gardens would be raised to accommodate access to the station from the HM Theatre side and to also include a station car park and taxi rank.

The Halliday plans drew fulsome praise from both Aberdeen Journals; the Evening Express in particular using the plans as a centrepiece for a “Let’s mend Aberdeen’s Broken Heart” campaign lasting several weeks.

The plans also drew support from an assortment of councillors and Alex Salmond. The Friends of Union Terrace Gardens (FoUTG) had been asked to comment by the Evening Express, although we told them we would reserve judgement until we found out more about the plans and had discussed them at our AGM, held last Saturday.

The Halliday plans achieved an amazing first in the UTG controversy: both the FoUTG and Sir Ian Wood were in agreement: Neither of us liked them.The Friends group rejected them as they meant building in the park (and once you concede the principle, when would this stop?)

Sir Ian Wood told the Evening Express on Wednesday that a car park would be the wrong use of space created by decking over the gardens. The billionaire seems to be envisaging a modified version of the original City Square Project; this description is from part of a press release that was reposted on Facebook:

“He does believe it is possible to cover the road and railway and then raise the gardens to the level of the existing arches on the west side and to the level of the raised decking over the road and railway and Belmont Street on the east.

“This would make them accessible and permeable from the adjacent streets and ensure the whole area becomes an integral part of the new city centre heart, with walk on access virtually all the way round. Some sloping topography would be respected with the level difference between Union Terrace and the arches with easy step access from Union Terrace and Rosemount Viaduct.

“The main visual features of the Victorian gardens could be maintained but as a more useable, accessible part of the city centre, helping regenerate Union Street and connecting north-south and east-west.

“For a city centre regeneration project to secure Wood Family Trust funds it must be truly transformational as described above, supported by the public and led by the City Council. If the council were to explore a development on this basis, they would be prepared to provide appropriate funding support. Hopefully a Government tax incremental financing (TIF) scheme might also be available.”

According to the Press and Journal, Sir Ian Wood was offering an ‘olive branch’ to the council in that a little dimple sitting on top of a subterranean structure could be styled as a ‘Victorian garden’. This was in no doubt in response to Barney Crockett’s statement that whatever happens, a Victorian garden must remain in Union Terrace Gardens.

A rowan tree in Union Terrace Gardens. The rowan is believed by some to offer protection against malevolent beings.

If all the noise and breast-beating in the Aberdeen Journals were to be taken literally, the John Halliday and Sir Ian Wood plans are ostensibly the only show in town.

Less stridently mentioned are FoUTG’s modest plans to restore the park and the fact that Aberdeen Council are also working on a plan for the city centre that includes Union Terrace Gardens.

We don’t know much about these plans. They will be made public at the end of the month.

Suffice to say from what Barney Crockett mentioned at the Friends AGM, Robert Gordon’s University seem to have been involved in some shape of form.

Barney also repeated his statement that a Victorian garden will be present but was careful not to reveal too much detail and hinted that there could be some changes in the gardens.

It also sounds as if the idea of creating access to the railway station down from the north side of Union Bridge is in favour. It looks as if the council intends to try and build a consensus on their scheme with extensive consultation with interested parties. This is planned to include both FoUTG and Sir Ian Wood.

It remains to be seen what will happen in the current, somewhat heated, situation. The pressure is building up on the council administration.

Sir Ian Wood is making a last ditch attempt to save a version of his city square project. He is being aided in this by the one-sided support of the Aberdeen Journals, the P&J in particular being largely vociferous in his favour.

The Conservative councillors, who share the city administration with Labour and the independents, want to see what they refer to as the “transformation” of the gardens and not just round the edges either.

On the other hand, the Labour Group have the good will of many in the city over the act of ditching the business plan for the City Garden Project last year. They will not want to lose this.

Another factor is that council budgets are under severe pressure, not the least because the council have to find £75 million to fund the bypass. More cuts are likely in the medium to long term and it’s obvious to the dispassionate observer that an expensive city centre construction project should not be anywhere near the council’s top priority for expenditure.

A rational solution is to spend some money on improving the gardens but not a great deal. They don’t really need many millions spent on them to bring about a city centre heart that everybody can be proud of.

Unfortunately logic and reason on most things UTG flew out the window years ago. Here’s hoping common sense returns before long.

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Bipeds, By-passes And Bye-bye Responsibility

Aberdeen City, Featured, Opinion 4 Responses »

Oct 112013

The other week, Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing caused a bit of a fuss by stating that the road system in Aberdeen was ‘an embarrassment and the worst in Scotland’. With his eyes firmly on the road ahead, our man in the driving seat, Fin Hall continues.

Barney Crockett, whose name incidentally comes up as Blarney with spell checker,
was outraged at these comments.

And rightly so, since it is the Scottish Government who has overall responsibility for the trunk roads in the country.

Meanwhile, MSP Lewis MacDonald, whilst agreeing with Mr Ewing, points out that the SNP government hasn’t started the AWPR despite almost 12 months having passed since the last stage of the appeal was heard.

Aberdeenshire Council member, Jim Gifford, also has a go at the Scottish Government over the lack of money that has been spent on NE roads.

All of these points are potentially valid, but the whole thing does smack of political point-scoring.

For a start, the Labour-led council has very short memories. It was the current incumbents’ predecessors who, for many a short-sighted year, publicly stated that we did not need a bypass, and actively encouraged us to take public transport, walk, or ride a bike. This was despite the fact that councillors themselves refused to do so stating that they, ‘…needed their cars to attend meetings all over the city’.

Oh, and the rest of us don’t, eh?

Funnily enough, the man at the head of this campaign, rejecting common sense, was one George Kirbride. At the time he was not an elected official, but a very opinionated civil servant, a man whose salary was paid by we tax payers.

He actively encouraged us all to cycle everywhere just as he did, because he didn’t drive. He wanted to build cycle lanes all over the city, the first one being out Cults way, which was apparently where he stayed. This futile example of a cycle way, is a mere white line painted around 18″ from the kerb, with no vehicle parking restrictions, thus totally negating its usefulness. It stopped around Mannofield.

NE drivers must surely be amongst the worst in the country

When all is said and done, the AWPR will not be a panacea in curing all traffic ills, and although it will certainly stop a vast volume of southbound and northbound traffic coming into the city, it will not make Aberdeen an idyllic, peaceful, fresh air city.

Much of the frustration and many problems in this part of the world are caused by the state of the traffic system, but drivers must take a goodly share of the blame. NE drivers must surely be amongst the worst in the country. Just check out the annual fatality list.

Indicators seem to be an added extra on most cars purchased up here, and lane discipline at roundabouts leaves a lot to be desired.

As for no entry signs and one way streets, forget about them.

Go down Stirling Street any day and you’ll see cars going down the street rather than travel 12 feet further along and travel down Exchange Street, the proper way. I have even seen a police car do this, and no, its blue lights were not flashing.

On these streets it is not uncommon to see cars parked facing the wrong way, as the owners know that City Wardens have the remit to book only vehicles parked outwith the parking zones, not parked in them facing the wrong way.

The police, in line with their budget cuts, pay absolutely no heed, thus perpetrating the vicious circle of irresponsibility.

The road saga is indicative of attitudes in modern society. As well as living in a world where blame culture predominates, we are now developing a parallel world, possibly blame culture’s twin – the idea that it is always someone else’s responsibility to get something done, rather than getting up off your backside and doing it yourself.

The AWPR will not solve the ills of the truly inadequate road system in the area, but it will surely assist in lessening congestion slightly. Provided that is, that the powers-that-be stop designating short cuts as rat runs and sticking road humps all over the place, forcing traffic on to already over-populated roads.

And stop passing the buck, just fix it.

Drivers need to stop thinking that the rules of the road are for everyone else and not for them, or that rules are in place to make your life awkward, rather than to help traffic flow swiftly and, above all, SAFELY!

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£20m Funding To Improve Cycling Infrastructure

Environment, News No Responses »

Oct 042013

North East MSP Christian Allard has warmly welcomed Scottish Government funding to improve cycle infrastructure.

At Scotland’s first cycle summit in Edinburgh on the 24th of September, Transport Minister Keith Brown MSP described how the £20m will be spent over the next two years.

The funding will provide a significant enhancement to the support the Scottish Government is already offering to local authorities to promote active travel.

The SNP MSP said:

“Like all French people I was born on a bicycle and very much used my bike as a mode of transport in my rural village in Burgundy, France.

“Years ago when the cycling route on the A944 was built, linking my home town of Westhill to Aberdeen I was very sceptical.

“I did not believe that the people in the North East of Scotland were ready to travel by bike. We were, and now the number of commuters is very impressive.

“I am delighted the Scottish Government has made this extra funding available to improve cycling infrastructure.”

The French-born MSP has written to all local authorities in the North East, asking how this extra funding will help them to accelerate future cycle projects.

Mr Allard added:

“Improvements in infrastructure are one of the most important measures in getting people who don’t currently cycle to consider getting out on their bikes.

“I would encourage people to take up cycling and get involved in events like the Auld Alliance bike ride from Edinburgh to France. I had the privilege to wave them off from Parliament with Transport Minister Keith Brown MSP at the end of August.”

More info:

Transport Scotland announcement: https://transportscotland.presscentre.com/content/detail.aspx?ReleaseID=296&NewsAreaId=2
Auld Alliance Bike ride: http://www.prenticeevents.com/news.php?extend.104.3

Photo: Christian Allard MSP with cyclists on Auld Alliance Bike Ride

Independence Referendum Selected As Youth Council Annual Campaign

Aberdeen City, News No Responses »

Oct 042013

With thanks to Liam Yeats.

Aberdeen City Youth Council (ACYC) has officially voted on their annual campaign. The idea, ‘Independence Referendum: Inform, Educate & Register’, was submitted by former Chair, Barry Black.

The motion submitted read as:

‘With the upcoming passage of legislation finalising details of the Scottish Independence referendum, ACYC’s main campaign should be an information and education campaign. We should also promote voter registration to make sure as many young people in Aberdeen as possible are eligible to vote – this will of course involve registering for the first time 16 and 17 year olds who will be extended the franchise for this vote’

During their February meeting, ACYC voted to remain impartial in the Scottish Independence Referendum debate (For: 12, Against: 1 & 0 Abstentions) as many Youth Councillors felt that they should be educating young people, rather than dividing themselves.

Barry Black (Youth Councillor) said:

“I think it is vital the ACYC is at the forefront of registering and facilitating debate ahead of Scotland’s biggest ever vote. The added decision of extending the vote to 16-17 itself provides a great challenge and opportunity for all whose aim it is to increase political participation. The ACYC has time and time again shown it is effective at impartially facilitating political debate and we must ensure the youth voice is represented in this debate more than any in any debate that has been taken before.”

Struan King (ACYC Chair) said:

“It’s a really exciting time to be involved in youth democracy. Come next September young people will have a historic opportunity to have their say on Scotland’s future. The Aberdeen City Youth Council has the very serious responsibility of ensuring young people are informed and understand the issues in question to make their vote.”

Aberdeen City Youth Council is now looking into at ideas for the campaign and how they will implement it.

For more information about Aberdeen City Youth Council email, info@acyc.info or visit www.acyc.info

Trump Wants Bigger Bunds – Object Now

Aberdeenshire, Featured, Opinion 7 Responses »

Sep 302013

Another day at the Menie Estate, another breach of the approved planning permission occurs, and another retrospective planning application appears: it certainly seems like business as usual. However, this latest application is a step too far for residents.
Suzanne Kelly provides background, and tells you how to object to the application and thereby help the residents of Leyton Cottage get their sunlight back.

View from Munro kitchen of bund with vegetation preventing access where it previously existed, blocking light and view. July 2013_

Trump came, saw and continues to conquer both nature and our planning laws. What was meant to be temporary ‘stockpiling of earth’ has turned into a nightmare for Susan Munro and her family at Leyton Cottage.

Currently, there is an application and an accompanying report (written by environmental consultants working for Trump, Ironside Farrar) which would see giant bunds made permanent between Leyton Cottage and the rest of the estate to the detriment of those who live there.

Susan Munro has this to say about the bunds:-

“The bunds caused drainage problems with water unable to get away due to the car park [formerly a green space, now tarmac] and washed our road away for weeks – we were unable to get home. The large bund is blocking light from the house and also our views.”

Dirt blows into the house, into car engines; dirt and sand have killed many garden plants. The law as it stands doesn’t care about the views – but surely it must care about blocking light and property damage?

Anyone opposed to this proposal to keep and enlarge the bunds is advised to lodge their objections to Aberdeenshire Council’s Planning offices before 6 October.

Objecting is straightforward and can go a long way to helping one of the many long-suffering families. Again, people are literally living in Trump’s shadow, and this giant wall of earth serves to immure a cottage and its residents.

The application can be found here: http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/planning/apps/detail.asp?ref_no=APP/2013/2469
Here is where to lodge your objection: – http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/planning/apps/comment.asp?ref_no=APP/2013/2469&sector=F

-and here is why you may wish to do so.

In an audacious, unannounced, callous move which was captured by Anthony Baxter in documentary You’ve Been Trumped, a huge mound of sand and earth was bulldozed into place between Leyton Cottage and its view of the land and sea back in 2010. No warning was given. At one point the assurance was given that these bunds were just part of construction and were temporary.

In fact Sarah Malone Trump VP, wife of supportive local newspaper editor Damian Bates said at the time:-

“With regard to the stockpiling of soil … this is a necessary part of the golf course construction process, for which we have full planning permission… No-one is being intimidated – we are merely getting on with the business of building. The landowners in the vicinity know that they are now living in the middle of a very large construction site and work will only increase over the coming years.” http://www.scotsman.com/news/donald-trump-s-star-greenkeeper-sacked-over-wall-of-earth-1-833456

Perhaps Ms Malone should attend the hearing and explain the construction process and the engineering requirement for the bunds.

This ‘stockpiling of soil’ ruined car engines at the Munro property, killed many of their garden plants, damaged their home – all from soil and sand blowing from the mound into their property from the bund.

They have not been able to view the sea from their home since.

A wooden bench on their land sits empty; it is on a hillside, and they used to sit up there and look out to sea. Now they look out on a mound of earth covered with dying pines on top of it.

Perhaps Ms Malone – a woman who admits she has zero experience of building golf courses or housing complexes – believes this mound was business as usual, and was an approved, temporary measure. It’s still there, landscaped on the side viewed by the golf club visitors, covered with weeds and dying trees on the Munro side.

While there is some grass slightly lessening the effect of the blowing earth and sand, this constant stream of windblown dirt can be seen on a sign outside the cottage.

Ironside Farrar have not answered any emails from Aberdeen Voice, nor has its professional body, the Royal Institute of Town Planners. The RITP’s website boasts of the professional calibre of its members. Despite Ironside Farrar writing in its report to the Council the bunds have been lowered, the largest one is still there, unaltered, and the bunds do not appear to have been part of the approved original plan.

There has been some lowering of a short, tiny bund between the parking lot and the Munro house.

Trump said he didn’t want to see the houses – so he basically walled the people in, or so it seems. Now he’s fighting to keep the bunds, submitting the Ironside report with his application concerning parking. If this nodded through, it will be a dark day for more than just the Munro family; it will mean seeking retrospective planning permission is an acceptable way to build.

I have been dealing with Susan Munro for some years now, I have seen the bunds and the damage they have done, the bunds have been a topic of conversation at every meeting we’ve had: the family want the bunds gone.

Photos of Susan by her kitchen window looking out at the bund where sun and sea used to be seen, are both iconic and symbolic of how Trump treats his neighbours – with contempt. Can you imagine looking out of your home one day at sea, sky, wildlife and sunlight – and the next day looking at nothing but a mound of earth?

This bund must not be allowed to stay. There is some possibility that this action breaches her human rights – it certainly looks to any feeling person like a gross act of bullying and intimidation.

The Report

The report by Ironside Farrar is at best illogical; at worst it seems to be misleading. The report can be found here: http://www.ukplanning.com/aberdeenshire/doc/Other-9855674.pdf extension=.pdf&id=9855674&location=VOLUME7&contentType=application%2Fpdf&pageCount=5

While Ironside Farrar start off their report by acknowledging the conditions which were put on Trump for his non-spec parking lot, they have decided that the best thing to do is to ignore this rather clear directive, decide that they know what it really means, and then things get even less logical from there. They start off:-

Of course, no reinvention or reinterpretation of the condition was required. They did so anyway with their design proposal:-

When it comes to audacity, the report has no equal:

“This will in turn protect the residential amenity of the owner/occupier of the property.” is their astonishing and easily disproved claim.

In an ideal world, planners, councillors and objectors would complain about this unsupported and illogical conclusion appearing in the report. In summary, rather than sticking to the instruction to take the bund down, the environmental consultants working for Trump decided a bund is somehow needed, and they have the nerve to suggest it is Susan Munro’s amenity they are being considerate of.

The consultants talk of using native species on the bunds which they propose to be made even larger. Clearly their concern for Susan Munro doesn’t extend to the drop in her property value these bunds so blatantly would mean. They seem to be aware that the existing bunds are very steep (not great for tree root systems) and mostly composed of sand (perhaps why the doomed pine trees keep dying).

These trees by the way are perpetually planted in the sandy bund, watered by clumsy, unattractive plastic pipe systems, and inevitably die and get replaced.

It is wasteful and disrespectful to the environment that these trees are used in such a manner, but surely the report writers can’t stretch the truth so far as to say removing the trees constitutes reducing the bunds in height, can they?

Not that there is any sign of the trees actually coming down, until they finally turn brown and are dragged away to one of the rubbish tips on the estate. The report closes with drawings showing massively high bunds, mature trees – but with no trace of the cottage on the plan; this is quite an oversight.

If you didn’t know precisely where the cottage was, these drawings are of little use.

They do however give you an idea of a massive wall of earth, a Great Wall of Menie, which will cut the Munros off from light even more so than the present bunds do, leaving the cottage in a claustrophobic cell: and these environmentalists, Ironside Farrar, have the gall to say it is for the Munro’s benefit.

It is hard to think that the planning authorities can possibly grant permission for the bunds to stay, or that any councillor, sworn to uphold the rights and needs of their constituents, would allow a neighbour to build a great wall of earth on a property boundary.

What they decide to do will speak volumes, and it will be widely reported. Again, objections are due before 6 October; your help is needed.

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Old Susannah No.133 – Stealing Special

Opinion, Satire and Humour 1 Response »

Sep 272013

Voice’s Old Susannah takes a look over the past week’s events in the ‘Deen and beyond. By Suzanne Kelly.

Tally ho! Has the Deen ever seen a fairer summer? It’s not faded out just yet, and the parks are still full of people. Union Terrace Gardens were full of revellers for the Rainbow festival.
The mythical drunks and junkies said to loiter there are as much in evidence as the transparent giant boy who floated over the lurid flowerbed in the Granite Web drawings.

Hazlehead is filled with people, including motorists who don’t give a damn about parking on the grass, as well as thieves who’ve stolen a metal plaque.