Work has finally commenced on a long-awaited supermarket on the outskirts of an Aberdeenshire town.
FM Developments has started to build its 40,364 sq ft supermarket on the Ury Estate site, just outside Stonehaven.
Located at the south-western corner of the Ury Estate, the site of the future supermarket lies adjacent to the A90 Aberdeen to Dundee road, and the Slug Road, to the north of the seaside town.
Developers were granted planning permission in principle at an earlier stage for the supermarket and its associated infrastructure, and were presented with a list of conditions to be met before the project could move forward.
But last week FM Developments was given the go-ahead by Aberdeenshire Council after the authority found they had successfully met the requirements.
Workers officially started to build the new store on Friday.
Jonathon Milne, director of FM Group, said he was delighted work was now getting underway on the new supermarket site.
Mr Milne said: “This clears all the planning conditions on the retail consent that we had previously, and what this means is it allows us to start work on the site, and we started on Friday.
“It’s all good news, and there’s lots of really positive things happening around Ury, so we’re feeling really pleased with how everything is progressing right now.
“We’ve been working away on a lot in the background.
“The supermarket could be ready towards the end of next year.”
An Aberdeenshire Council report concluded that the developers fulfilled all the requirements that were set out in the principle consent, and satisfied the relevant policies in the local development plan for the area.
The report said: “The proposed retail development is of appropriate scale and design, respecting the wider natural landscape and build heritage, whilst providing enhanced linkages and good access to and from the site.
The council report also praised the supermarket proposal for its wooden-clad design, and said it would fit in well with its surroundings at Ury Estate.