A major retail planning row has taken a new turn. Councillors in Aberdeen have voted - over the heads of their officials - to visit a controversial contaminated site at the city's Beach Boulevard where Scotoil Group is proposing a major retail park.
The company uses part of the 24-acre site for its own use, while much of the rest has lain derelict for many years. Frustrated by nine months of delay, the company has appealed to the Secretary of State for Scotland, claiming that there is an unfilled demand from retailers for some 1.2m sq ft of retail space in the Granite City.
The demand figures were compiled by property consultants Chesterton. Eric Shearer of Chesterton's Aberdeen office says that he knows of more than 100 retailers seeking space in and around the city.
Requirements include: Costco, Wickes, Warner Brothers, and Petsmart. ''If the city does not find suitable development sites for these companies then it will forfeit millions of pounds of inward investment and many hundreds of jobs, simply because of a lack of strategy,'' he said.
In a bid to improve its chances of success, Scotoil has revised the plans to introduce a strong leisure element, which could include an Imax cinema or a planetarium. The revised plans also include new frontage designs, so that the scheme will blend with nearby urban buildings.
The developers claim that their proposals offer the opportunity to remove a group of eyesore industrial buildings and to clean up the last major contaminated site close to the city centre. Scotoil estimates the remediation costs at #1m.
Council officials are opposed to the idea of a retail park at the Beach Boulevard. Their reasons include: the loss of industrial and business land; that the proposed site lies outwith the city's existing retail centre; that the development has an unacceptable dependence on car-based journeys.
Ian Davidson, managing director of the Scotoil Group, said: ''The location of our development will add to the attractions of Aberdeen's beach front. We see this as a major asset for the city at a time when other Scottish cities like Glasgow and Edinburgh are investing in further improvements to their retail provision.''
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