You agreed that I could send our comments on the subject appeal to you by .

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1 Kennedy C (Christopher) From: JAMES BAYNE Sent: 28 February :44 To: Kennedy C (Christopher) Subject: PLANNING APPEAL PPA CAMPSITE, BEECHGLEN, FORGLEN. Attachments: campsiteappeal-4.docx Dear Mr. Kennedy, We spoke on 23 February. You agreed that I could send our comments on the subject appeal to you by . Please find attached the comments of the Alvah and Forglen Community Council as formally agreed at tonight's council. Regards, Jim Bayne Secretary Alvah and Forglen Community Council This has been scanned by the Symantec Security.cloud service. For more information please visit *********************************** ******************************** This has been received from an external party and has been swept for the presence of computer viruses. ******************************************************************** 1

2 ALVAH AND FORGLEN COMMUNITY COUNCIL Reply Address: The Cottage, Kirktown of Alvah, Banff AB45 3US Website: Facebook: The Directorate of Planning and Environmental Appeals 28 February 2017 Dear Mr. Kennedy, PLANNING APPEAL PPA CAMPSITE, BEECHGLEN, FORGLEN Summary Alvah and Forglen Community Council has considered the appeal submitted against the decision of Banff and Buchan Area Committee to reject the Planning Application APP/2016/2260 for a campsite at Beechglen, Forglen. The appellant has not raised any planning issues that were not considered by the Area Committee at the time of the decision, and has not addressed or offered a solution to the key issue of road safety on a very narrow private rural road. Alvah and Forglen Community Council fully supports the decision of the Area Committee. Background Alvah and Forglen Community Council had requested that the planning department address local concerns that the access road was barely suitable for extant traffic and therefore could not safely accommodate more. Their concern was about the increased likelihood of traffic accidents. Initially, the planning department did not offer a view on the suitability of the road as it was a private road and not the responsibility of Aberdeenshire Council. Subsequently the Banff and Buchan Area Committee agreed that safety on the road should be a consideration and decided that a site visit should take place. On 13 December, following the site visit, the Area Committee concluded that the road was not suitable. At the same meeting the Roads Department official advised that, had the road been council owned, he would have recommended that suitable passing places be introduced. Inaccurate Information Submitted by Appellant 1. Alvah and Forglen Community Council. (i) A considerable number of paragraphs and pages of the appeal document attempt to show that AFCC is not competent to respond as a statutory consultee and that therefore the community council objection is not valid. AFCC is satisfied that it acted in full compliance with the Aberdeenshire Council code of conduct for councillors, its Scheme of Establishment, and with its Community Council Handbook. This position

3 is supported by the s from Aberdeenshire Council in Appendix 6 of the appeal document. (ii) The appellant claims that the community council behaved inappropriately in objecting to the application. The s included in Annex 6 of the appeal documents show clearly that the Community Council behaved impeccably and tried to engage with the agent. The s in the annex also show that it was made clear to the appellant that it was open for her to make her case personally to the community council which meets monthly (except August), alternating between the Alvah and Forglen Halls. In the event she chose not to do so. (iii) The appellant claims that the decision of the community council to raise concerns about the application was not in accord with the relevant rules - "no meeting took place and the secretary refuses to produce any record of the decision." However, the minutes of the meeting after submission of the AFCC views to Aberdeenshire Council (27 September 2016) record that the community council had raised concerns, thus the decision was subsequently homologated in accordance with the Community Council Handbook (See Appendix A). (iv) The appellant claims that the community council breached the Scheme of Establishment by allowing one councillor to propose 2 candidates in 2015 and another councillor to second 2 candidates in The appellant has misinterpreted the rules. Those she quotes from (rule 8.2 and page 22 in the Scheme of Establishment) apply only to the election of new candidates to the council. What is recorded in the AFCC 2015 and 2016 AGM minutes is the re-election of existing community councillors to office bearing positions. No such restrictions exist for that procedure. (See Appendix A for full extract from the relevant sections in the Scheme for the Establishment of Community Councils.). 2. Status of Private Road The appellant claims that as the access road is private it was not a material consideration and therefore the Alvah and Forglen Community Council s objection was invalid. It is well documented that in this part of Aberdeenshire the number of fatal traffic accidents is disproportionally high. It would be totally irresponsible of the community council if it were not to consider safety concerns brought to their attention by local residents. This is precisely what happened in this case. The community council objected to the application because it considered the road unsafe for the projected increase in traffic. Safety is and must always be a valid consideration 3. Width of Road. The appellant claims that the road is 5 metres wide with adequate space for two cars to pass. The photograph at Appendix B shows that this is incorrect. It is clearly not possible for cars to pass each other on the road. The metalled part of the road is barely wide enough for a single car. 4. Blockage of the road during the Site Visit. The appellant claims that a community councillor s vehicle deliberately blocked the access road during the site visit. This is untrue, and the appellant acknowledges in the appeal document that during the site visit all vehicles were able to enter and exit the site without issue.

4 5. Other Uses for the Site. The appellant alleges that a community councillor claimed during the site visit that the site would be used to hold festivals. Such a possibility has never been considered by the Community Council. Alvah and Forglen Community Council Concern. The access road to the proposed campsite is very narrow with a steep bank on one side and a burn on the other. There are no passing places on the road, only residents private driveways. The campsite will have 26 parking places and it must, therefore, be assumed that an additional 26 cars plus service vehicles for the campsite could use the road. This would be a massive increase in traffic and most of the new drivers would have no experience of the road. The picture at Appendix B shows that much of the road is obscured by the high bank, particularly when driving along the access road from the site to the main road. Reversing on this road would be hazardous, particularly in the dark. The Community Council believes that the probability of an accident on this road would increase significantly with the additional vehicles travelling to and from the campsite. Conclusion. As neither Aberdeenshire Council nor the appellant has offered any mitigation for the concerns of local residents about safety on the access road, Alvah and Forglen Community Council fully supports the Banff and Buchan Area Committee s decision to refuse Planning Application APP/2016/2260. J Bayne Secretary

5 Appendix A Aberdeenshire Council Community Council Handbook Page 19 The Community Council shall consider all applications for planning permission that come before it and shall record in the Minutes of the meeting the view of the Community Council in regard to the application. If for any reason, a response is required in advance of consideration by the full Council, the matter shall be delegated to the Secretary in consultation with the Chair to frame an appropriate response which shall be submitted to the next meeting of the Council for homologation. LOCAL GOVERNMENT ETC. (SCOTLAND) ACT, 1994 ABERDEENSHIRE COUNCIL SCHEME FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMUNITY COUNCILS 8.1 A person seeking election to a Community Council must be aged 18 years or over and either: (a) appear on the Electoral Roll for that Community Council area at the date of being proposed for membership of the Community Council; or (b) have during a period of at least three months preceding date of nomination had their ordinary or principal place of residence within the Community Council area; or (c) the owner of a business located in a Community Council Area, although not personally resident there Each candidate shall be nominated by a Proposer and a Seconder (neither of whom shall be the candidate), both being persons whose names appear at that time in the said Electoral Roll for the respective Community Council s area, or sub-division of that area, where applicable, 8.2 No person shall be entitled to nominate or second more than one candidate. Page 22 A person seeking election to a Community Council must be aged 18 years or over and either: (a) appear on the Electoral Register for that Community Council area at the date of being proposed for membership of the Community Council; or (b) have during a period of at least three months preceding date of nomination had their ordinary or principal place of residence within the Community Council area and be eligible to have their name added to the Register at its next update; or (c) the owner of a business located in a Community Council Area, although not personally resident there Each Candidate shall be nominated by a Proposer and a Seconder (neither of whom may be the candidate), both being persons whose names appear in the said Electoral Register for the respective Community Council area, or sub-division of that area, where applicable. A Proposer or Seconder may only nominate one candidate..

6 Appendix B.