Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Housing plans for former west end school hang in balance – and could spell trouble for Treetops hotel redevelopment

Proposals for the former Hilton Treetops site could be scrapped without a word next week. Plans for affordable housing at the demolished Braeside School must pass first.

New Aberdeen west end housing could be built at the old Treetops hotel and Braeside Primary School sites.
New Aberdeen west end housing could be built at the old Treetops hotel and Braeside Primary School sites.

There’s a warning schools, roads and health facilities will be “overwhelmed” if plans for more than 100 homes in Aberdeen’s west end are given the go ahead.

Community leaders urged councillors to send Malcolm Allan Housebuilders back to the drawing board on two key sites in Craigiebuckler.

And the future of former Hilton Treetops land – and the proposals for affordable housing in Braeside Place which will allow it to go ahead – hang in the balance.

Aberdeen’s planning committee spent nearly two hours on Thursday, dissecting the plans for 30 affordable houses on the site of the former Braeside School.

But they did not take a decision, instead opting to visit both sites next week before a vote.

Without the Braeside homes being constructed for Grampian Housing Association, Malcolm Allan Housebuilders will be unable to proceed with its 77 properties at the Treetops site.

The Springfield Road hotel was levelled in late 2020 after closing abruptly at the start of that year.

Both schemes have been backed by city planners, despite garnering more than 200 objections from locals.

Braeside School housing plans – and linked Treetops homes – will ‘completely overwhelm’ Craigiebuckler

Residents spoke out against the Braeside development at a meeting on Thursday.

Braeside and Mannofield Community Council chairman Keith Pirie claimed the 116 people planned to live in the affordable homes would “completely overwhelm” local services.

Plans for housing at the former Hilton Treetops site. Image: Malcolm Allan Housebuilders
Plans for housing at the former Hilton Treetops site. Image: Malcolm Allan Housebuilders

The required affordable housing was initially planned as flats on the Treetops site.

But it transpired that housing associations require larger homes for their stock.

Unable to fit them in at Springfield Road, Malcolm Allan Housebuilders looked to Braeside Place instead.

Mr Pirie claimed the nearby Great Western Medical Practice had recently survived a “crisis”, amid struggles to find GPs.

The proposed £42,000 developer contribution to expand the building would do little to help hire more people, he argued.

Mr Pirie suggested between 15 or 20 homes on the “eyesore” site would be acceptable, while the current plans – along with those for the Treetops – were “overdevelopment”.

Braeside and Treetop development objections ‘not nimbyism’

When the plans were adapted to include the former Braeside primary, dozens of objections were lodged.

Among them one west end resident railed against the social housing, claiming the area was “no place for families in poverty”.

But Mr Pirie wrote those comments off as two or three out of the 104 received.

“The local press suggested that this community was up in arms about social housing coming in. Nothing could be further from the truth,” he assured councillors.

“This is not about social housing. It is not this nimby issue that is talked about. Affordable housing is needed.

“But this is about the number of people and that the infrastructure cannot bear it.”

Ahead of the crunch meeting, planners briefed that “there is no reason that social and mainstream housing cannot sit alongside one another”.

‘It doesn’t reflect reality’: Treetops and Braeside housing plans judged against out-of-date school roll figures

There was also concern when council services manager Andrew Jones admitted the school roll forecasts used to calculate the impact of both schemes was more than five years old.

Demolition of Braeside School began in February 2021. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson.
Demolition of Braeside School began in February 2021. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson.

Chairman of Airyhall Parent Council Michael Crawford claimed the council had “underestimated the real-world impact” on the school roll.

He also criticised the decision not to add an extra school crossing in nearby Craigton Road.

“The numerous objections from parents have not been adequately addressed,” he said.

“This year school placements for Airyhall are being declined and parents are having to appeal.

“The 30 houses proposed have the requirement for two children per house so simplistically that is an additional class at Airyhall School and Hazlehead Academy.

“It doesn’t reflect reality.”

Residents have raised concerns about the height of planned housing at the Treetops Hotel site. Redevelopment could be scrapped without any discussion next week. Image: Malcolm Allan Housebuilders.
Residents have raised concerns about the height of planned housing at the Treetops Hotel site. Redevelopment could be scrapped without any discussion next week. Image: Malcolm Allan Housebuilders.

Planners recommending approval stated Airyhall School would not be overcapacity with the 30 new homes or the 77 planned at the Treetops.

But money would be needed to expand Hazlehead Academy.

Other objectors speaking included stretched community workers, residents concerned the new homes would be too close to their properties and even council co-leader Ian Yuill.

Another Lib Dem, local councillor Martin Greig was poised to speak on the Treetops proposals – though that debate never happened.

Another week of waiting for a decision and a real Town House din

Having waited years for a say on the contested plans, objectors were forced to hold on another 20 minutes.

Already there had been an extra week of waiting for Thursday’s meeting after bungling planners did not tell community councils of changes to the plans.

When it arrived, democracy was briefly drowned out by eager workers loudly sawing or drilling away at the Town House roof.

Demolition of the Hilton Treetops hotel began in November 2020 as Malcolm Allan Housebuilders plans housing on the site. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson.
Demolition of the Hilton Treetops hotel began in November 2020 as Malcolm Allan Housebuilders plans housing on the site. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson.

Apologetic planning convener Dell Henrickson urged speakers to “bear with us” and “speak up”.

“I’m not sure what we can do,” he added.

Others screamed the noise was “not acceptable”. Or they shook their heads and pointed to their ears to indicate they couldn’t follow proceedings.

The meeting reconvened around 20 minutes later after the workers had been told to down tools.

But still there was no decision. A vote will be taken on the Braeside plans after the site visit next Thursday.

In order to even discuss the Treetops proposals that same day, the affordable housing at the former primary school must be approved.

Conversation