A massive £100million retail complex plan on the outskirts of Aberdeen was pulled for the council agenda at the last minute yesterday.
The expansion of the Prime Four business park near Westhill into a major out-of-town shopping centre was due to be debated at the full council meeting.
But members were informed as they arrived that developers Drum Property Group had pulled the plans to “refine the proposals”.
First tabled in October, the developers claim the expansion will create 500 jobs.
The firm has also said that Next and Boots are among the major names that would move into the retail park.
But the plans have proven controversial with the majority of city centre shopping centres lodging formal objections and planners recommending refusal to the scheme.
Graeme Bone, Drum’s Group managing director said: “The application exercise has provided us with a wider understanding of the current priorities of the administration for the city centre and Aberdeen as a whole.
“There are a number of matters which came to light late in the process that we need more time to consider. The council therefore accepted our request to defer matters to a later date.
“With this local and national demand, combined with the coming of the AWPR, we fundamentally believe there is an inevitability that out of town retailing will play a key role in shaping Aberdeen’s future. And by far the best location for it is at Prime West.”
It’s understood the application will come up again in the near future.