Agenda item

The Council had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning which informed of a Direction issued by Scottish Ministers requiring modifications to be made to the Aberdeen Local Development Plan 2023 prior to adoption and advised that accepting the modifications would allow the Council to adopt the Plan.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)           instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning to confirm to Scottish Ministers that the planning authority would accept the modifications to the Aberdeen Local Development Plan 2023 as outlined in their Direction letter of 10 May 2023 (Appendix 1); and

(b)           instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning to proceed to adopt the Aberdeen Local Development Plan 2023, as modified (Appendix 2) and to undertake the statutory procedures set out in paragraph 3.5 of the report.

At this juncture, the Council moved into private session to receive an update from the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning, following which a number of questions were asked by members and responded to by the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning and the Interim Chief Officer - Governance (Legal). The Council then moved back into public session.

Councillor Bouse moved, seconded by Councillor Radley:-

          That the Council approve the recommendations.

Councillor Malik moved as an amendment, seconded by Councillor Crockett:-

          That Council:-

(1)       instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning to delay responding to Scottish Ministers that the planning authority will accept the modifications to the Aberdeen Local Development Plan (LDP) 2023 as outlined in their Direction letter of 10 May 2023 (Appendix 1);

(2)       agree the LDP was prepared prior to NPF4 being adopted, in accordance with transitional arrangements. Therefore, agree despite these modifications this is not an LDP which has been prepared pursuant to the policies in NPF4;

(3)       agree Members voted for the adoption of the LDP in December 2022 on the basis of NPF3 and not NPF4;

(4)       agree that the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 (Commencement No. 12. And Saving Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2023 states that where LDPs have reached the stage where their proposed LDP has been published in a local newspaper before 12 February 2023, they shall continue to be adopted under the provisions of the 1997 Act;

(5)       therefore, given Councillors were only provided with legal advice on Monday 12 June at 2.45pm, Council has had no time to digest the legal advice and come to a proper conclusion on the risks associated with a possible Judicial Review; and

(6)       instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning to address our concerns in our amendment and to address the legal advice provided and bring back the LDP for ratification or otherwise to the Council meeting in August 2023.

On a division, there voted:-

For the motion  (23)  -  Lord Provost; Depute Provost; and Councillors Al-Samarai, Allard, Bouse, Hazel Cameron, Clark, Cooke, Copland, Cormie, Davidson, Fairfull, Greig, Henrickson, Hutchison, MacGregor, McLellan, McRae, Mennie, Nicoll, Radley, van Sweeden and Yuill.

For the amendment  (18)  -  Councillors Ali, Blake, Bonsell, Boulton, Brooks, Crockett, Cross, Farquhar, Graham, Grant, Houghton, Lawrence, Macdonald, McLeod, Massey, Thomson, Tissera and Watson.

Absent from the division  (1)  -  Councillor Malik.

The Council resolved:-

to adopt the motion.