A controversial plan to convert a former Aberdeen private school into a hotel has been approved by planners.
Councillors on the planning committee visited the site of the Hamilton School on Queens Road yesterday to make a final decision on Status Properties’ plan for the listed building.
The change had raised concerns in the local community, with many residents complaining about a potential increase in traffic, noise and smell.
The new hospitality venue will be sandwiched between two existing hotels.
Council officers recommended approval for the application when it was presented before the planning committee last week.
But members instead voted to defer the decision until after a visit to the site.
After being shown around yesterday, councillors voted 10 to three to grant the application.
The Hamilton School closed its doors in February 2014 after the Scottish Government and Care Inspectorate moved to shut it down amid safety concerns.
Planning vice convener Jennifer Stewart, also a councillor for Queens Cross, Hazlehead and Ashley, was one of the three to vote against the development.
She said: “I’m very disappointed on behalf of local residents for this decision.
“I know a lot of people will be upset about this and people have asked me before what is the point of objecting if it doesn’t seem to change anything.
“I felt that it was an overdevelopment of the site and that another hotel was just too much for the area.
“The extra traffic on Queens Lane South would have been excessive.”
Fellow ward member John Cooke also voted against.
He said: “The general public were deeply unhappy with the plan so I felt I had to vote for my constituents. “
But Alex Nicoll, who voted for the development, said that he was satisfied the plan was a “perfectly acceptable concept”.
He said: “I did think about the objections that were expressed and they were discussed at length in the meeting.
“But the site has been sitting empty for a long time. One thing that we really don’t want as we develop the city is empty sites.”
