Issue - meetings

“That the Council:-

(1)      Notes the Planning Development Management Committee’s decision on 7 November 2024 to approve planning permission conditionally, subject to referral to the Scottish Ministers due to SEPA’s objection, over Land at Coast Road, St Fittick's Park/Gregness Headland/Doonies Farm, Aberdeen, following an application by ETZ Ltd who, at the time of the application, had no meaningful legal interest in the Land;

(2)      Notes Govan Law Centre has lodged a reclaiming motion (appeal) to the Inner House of the Court of Session in the environmental justice judicial review of McLean v. Aberdeen City Council. The appeal concerns a decision by Aberdeen City Council (ACC) to possibly industrialise St. Fittick’s Park as part of its Energy Transition Zone (ETZ) plan for the city;

(3)      Notes the decision of Council regarding Land Options Within the Energy Transition Zone 11.09.2023 “to recommend to the Planning Development Management Committee that any future reports of the ETZ Masterplan be reported to the earliest appropriate meeting of Full Council” and seeks clarification as to why the matter was raised at Planning Development Management Committee and not Full Council as agreed by Elected Members;

(4)      Instructs the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord to bring forward to Full Council, within two cycles, a plan as to how the Council intends to market the land owned by the Council which forms part of the Land noted above for the Council to obtain best value, rather than allow ETZ Ltd the opportunity to take over this land without competitive tenders; and

(5)      Agrees that Aberdeen City Council as landowner should remove St Fittick’s Park from any proposed redevelopment.”

Note the undernoted decision of Full Council, 11 September 2023, in relation to the report “Land Options Within the Energy Transition Zone” (RES/23/287) and acknowledges a report will be forthcoming following the ongoing legal case:-

That Council, on 11 September 2023, agreed to:-

(i)     instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord, in Aberdeen City Council’s capacity as land owner, that St Fittick’s OP56 and Doonies OP61 sites were only to be made available for lease and must remain in Council ownership and that, furthermore, any such lease agreement was only to be entered into at the point where an end user was agreed by Aberdeen City Council and financial close was reached;

(ii)    instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord to enter formal dialogue with ETZ Ltd and PoA to discuss the optimum partnership arrangements to take forward the future development of the sites and ensure the delivery of the outcomes identified by ETZ Ltd in their masterplan and in the North East Regional Economic Strategy and in line with Best Value principles;

(iii)    instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord, following consultation with the Chief Officer - Finance and Chief Officer – Governance, to consider as part of such potential partnership arrangements how a proportion of the lease income from the sites could be used for the benefit of the local community;

(iv)   agree that approval of any leases was contingent on Council approval of the community benefit package, which was to progress, so far as was practical, parallel with the granting of leases;

(v)    note that in a recent briefing to elected members of Aberdeen City Council, the Chief Executive of ETZ Ltd wrote: “…we are in advanced discussions with a number of inward investors focused on cable manufacturing, moorings and anchorings, seeking to locate on the site (subject to planning) for these very reasons.”;

(vi)   instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord to engage with PoA, ETZ Ltd, and any other interested party, as to any proposals they had to develop the site, including full details of the development, the rationale for the location of their business and any mitigations proposed to minimise the impact on local residents;

(vii)   note community amenity and wellbeing were key considerations for Aberdeen City Council as the landowner; and instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord that individual lease agreements must include details of the community impact remediation steps that would be implemented at the termination of the lease;

(viii)  instruct the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment and Chief Officer - Commercial and Procurement to report through a service update on how the local community may participate in any decision-making process for the disbursement of funds that may be identified for the benefit of communities;

(ix)   recommend to the Planning Development Management Committee that any future reports of the ETZ Masterplan be reported to the earliest appropriate meeting of Full Council; and

(x)    instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord to report the outcome  ...  view the full decision text for item 5

The Committee had before it a Notice of Motion by Councillor Malik in the following terms:-

“That the Council:-

(1)      Notes the Planning Development Management Committee’s decision on 7 November 2024 to approve planning permission conditionally, subject to referral to the Scottish Ministers due to SEPA’s objection, over Land at Coast Road, St Fittick's Park/Gregness Headland/Doonies Farm, Aberdeen, following an application by ETZ Ltd who, at the time of the application, had no meaningful legal interest in the Land;

(2)      Notes Govan Law Centre has lodged a reclaiming motion (appeal) to the Inner House of the Court of Session in the environmental justice judicial review of McLean v. Aberdeen City Council. The appeal concerns a decision by Aberdeen City Council (ACC) to possibly industrialise St. Fittick’s Park as part of its Energy Transition Zone (ETZ) plan for the city;

(3)      Notes the decision of Council regarding Land Options Within the Energy Transition Zone 11.09.2023 “to recommend to the Planning Development Management Committee that any future reports of the ETZ Masterplan be reported to the earliest appropriate meeting of Full Council” and seeks clarification as to why the matter was raised at Planning Development Management Committee and not Full Council as agreed by Elected Members;

(4)      Instructs the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord to bring forward to Full Council, within two cycles, a plan as to how the Council intends to market the land owned by the Council which forms part of the Land noted above for the Council to obtain best value, rather than allow ETZ Ltd the opportunity to take over this land without competitive tenders; and

(5)      Agrees that Aberdeen City Council as landowner should remove St Fittick’s Park from any proposed redevelopment.”

Councillor Malik moved his motion and explained the rationale behind it and was seconded by Councillor Watson.

The Convener, seconded by Councillor Greig, moved as an amendment:-

that the Committee –        

(1)    Note the undernoted decision of Full Council, 11 September 2023, in relation to the report “Land Options Within the Energy Transition Zone” (RES/23/287) and acknowledges a report will be forthcoming following the ongoing legal case:-

That Council, on 11 September 2023, agreed to:-

(a)    instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord, in Aberdeen City Council’s capacity as land owner, that St Fittick’s OP56 and Doonies OP61 sites were only to be made available for lease and must remain in Council ownership and that, furthermore, any such lease agreement was only to be entered into at the point where an end user was agreed by Aberdeen City Council and financial close was reached;

(b)    instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord to enter formal dialogue with ETZ Ltd and PoA to discuss the optimum partnership arrangements to take forward the future development of the sites and ensure the delivery of the outcomes identified by ETZ Ltd in their masterplan and in the North East Regional Economic Strategy and in line with Best Value principles;

(c)    instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5