Agenda item

The Committee received a deputation from Mr Hamish McDonald, ABDN Ltd, in relation to item 14.1 (Site at Beach Esplanade – Proposed Alternative Use), article 17 of this minute refers.

Mr McDonald provided details on his proposal for a holiday lodge park development at the Beach Esplanade site, making reference to other high quality coastline lodge parks on the east of Scotland, including Seton Sands, Arbroath, South Links, Montrose and St Cyrus.

Mr McDonald provided background information to the proposal which commenced in July 2021 with an initial inquiry being made in relation to the site at the Beach Promenade which was well located and was ideal for a lodge park development with great access to facilities, local golf courses and the beach. He explained that there was a meeting with Council officers to discuss the proposal further and was told that the principle of the project made sense and the location would be suitable, however that would be subject to gaining planning approval and was therefore advised to submit a Pre-Application Advice Request. He indicated that the planning issues around the project were examined and he believed that there were positive solutions to all of these. He made reference to an Aberdeen Policy Panel report released in December 2021 which stated that the vision of Aberdeen tourism was to turn itself into an attractive city for cultural breaks and a gateway to the wider region and that this proposal would meet that vision for Aberdeen.

Mr McDonald indicated that in March 2022 it was agreed that additional information was required to consider the proposal further which resulted in an instruction to undertake an Economic Impact Assessment which revealed that since Covid, there had been a move towards UK holidays and Aberdeen did not cater for holiday lodge accommodation. The report also stated that the proposal would bring excellent economical benefits to Aberdeen, which identified employment opportunities for 81 jobs locally and 8 onsite positions, which could potentially bring £4.25M per annum of offsite tourism spend. He explained that the proposed economic value of employment gross value added generated by the development would also inject approximately an additional £2.14M into the local economy annually. He advised that the economic assessment based these figures on average occupancy rates of less than 45%, but in his opinion this was a very conservative estimate as Aberdeen had so much tourism potential to offer, and in addition the economic benefits were not relying on the oil and gas sector and was fully focussed on tourist accommodation.

Mr McDonald made reference to his previous experience in various other lodge parks indicating that at present he was involved in Stewart’s Resort luxury development at St Andrews.

Mr McDonald explained that the proposed development in Aberdeen was entirely at his own risk, time, expense and effort with the project being entirely self funded with a reference confirmation from his chartered accountant, with the total completion cost exceeding approximately £20M.

He advised that there were other opportunities outwith Aberdeen, however he strongly believed in the proposal, being passionate about his home city and was keen to invest in something that Aberdeen did not have, noting that the location of the holiday park at the beach would be an amazing addition to the city. He explained that there would be no financial exposure or risk to Aberdeen City Council on the project and therefore requested that the Committee give full consideration to the proposal.  

The Committee resolved:-

to note the deputation and to thank Mr Hamish McDonald for his attendance.