*Please only sign if you live in Aberdeenshire*

In Laurencekirk, Fotheringham Homes put in a planning application to build 10 houses in a field next to Garvocklea Gardens. Muir Homes wants to build a 28-house expansion to their development near Denlethen Woods. Now AB30 Developments, based in Turriff, has applied to build 247 houses just to the North of Laurencekirk, right next to the chicken houses. Already, any new residents are gonna have to deal with the near stench of chicken droppings every so often.

More seriously, Laurencekirk has only one Primary School, which is at capacity and cannot legally be expanded, and a 700-pupil Secondary School that is technically at almost full capacity, but is actually over. There are plans for the event that it does get expanded, but of course, funding is an issue, and even that expansion would probably not be enough, as Mearns Academy would grow to be as big as or bigger than Mackie Academy, if each house has an average of 2 children. The biggest development will be isolated from Laurencekirk (with only one, roadside, footpath connecting the two and no separated foot/cycle paths) as well, so you can expect 200+ extra cars driving their kids, who would grow to be dependent on their parents driving them everywhere, to school. Then add more cars to the High Street and A90/A937 Junction. Noise. Congestion. Air pollution. Traffic deaths. This is a disaster in the making.

What we need is more businesses, public services, infrastructure, public transport, and a stronger sense of community, or the Mearns risks becoming a simple commuter area where nobody knows each other and everyone drives somewhere else to work, socialise, and to do practically anything else except sleep. With sensible development, we can organically expand our community, and even strengthen it. 

This is why, at the meeting of Mearns Community Council on the 24th of April 2023, I, Rémi Salvan, a resident of Laurencekirk, asked my colleagues at Mearns Community Council to launch official community council objections to the two larger projects. Unfortunately, it failed, on the grounds that the AB30 Developments application was for a change in planning conditions, with the Muir Homes one being already partially accommodated for in the Local Development Plan, and I misunderstood it. In any case, we shouldn't have any new commercial housing developments until our infrastructure and public services are up to scratch. It is now in the hands of our Aberdeenshire councillors in the Kincardine & Mearns area to listen to this.

Correction: Previously, this petition read that the community council was against making an objection, due to worries about not being taken seriously. I have recently found out that, at least for the AB30 Developments application, it was for a change in conditions to an existing application. I made a mistake in my original interpretation of this, and I’d like to apologise for any misunderstanding/upset I’ve caused. My points still stand that there shouldn’t be any new commercial housing development until our infrastructure and public services are up to scratch.