Planning permission secured for new 350MW OCGT development at SSE’s Tarbert Power Station in Co. Kerry
6 February 2025
16 January 2025
Last year, Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils jointly appointed Gravis Planning to provide a comprehensive update of the review of the retail and leisure sectors in north east Scotland from 2023-2038, in support of both Councils’ evidence bases for their emerging Local Development Plans (LDPs).
The two Councils in north east Scotland have a total population of close to 500,000 and form a critical part of the country's economic base. The area includes remote highland glens in the Cairngorms, two of the largest fishing ports in Europe in Fraserburgh and Peterhead, major commuter settlements in Aberdeenshire as well as the City of Aberdeen. Aberdeen itself is a city of contrasts, including one of the UK’s oldest universities while experiencing tremendous economic and population growth with the North Sea oil boom that started in the 1970s. It remains a key international centre for offshore engineering and technology and for the energy sector generally.
The updated retail and leisure study therefore needed to embrace a huge range and variety of types of retail and leisure activity to assess future needs. Issues during the updating process included:
This culminated in a series of recommendations for the retail strategies in the emerging LDPs of both Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Council, to ensure that they were designed to meet the needs of all communities within the study area.