Developers want to postpone the construction of a tourism-boosting Laurencekirk hotel while the town’s delayed £24m flyover remains in limbo.
Plans for a 100-room venue outside the Mearns town were approved in November, 2021, promising both more jobs and visitors for the area.
At the time, however, AJ Developments were told that their plans to create an “anchor for tourism in the Mearns” could not go ahead until the desperately needed road improvements were finished.
Three years later, the work hasn’t even started…
Why can’t new Laurencekirk hotel go ahead?
Residents have campaigned for decades for the new crossing between the A90 Stonehaven to Dundee road and the A937 Laurencekirk to Montrose route.
They say it is required to prevent crashes and near-misses at the accident blackspot.
The £24 million infrastructure was meant to be in place by 2022…
Last week, it emerged that there was some fresh hope for it as all objections have been resolved.
But this came with the added complication that a new bridge at Oatyhill will need to be built first.
The roads wrangle has had a decisive domino effect on the economy-boosting hotel plans.
As well as the hotel, the 8.1 hectare site will include a new restaurant, petrol station and retail space.
So where does that leave the hotel now?
When permission for the hotel was granted, developers were given five years to commence the work.
It now looks unlikely that the flyover will be in place by 2026, so AJ Developments wants Aberdeenshire Council to extend this permission until 2028.
Solicitors from Brodies explain: “There is as yet no timetable for commencing construction of the new junction.
“It is submitted that there is justification to extend the permission from five to seven years.”
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‘Hotel operators won’t entertain the idea until road is sorted’
The lawyers add that this delay has stymied talks with operators as the applicant seeks an operator to run the hotel.
They say: “Having attempted on a number of occasions to engage with potential operators to allow proposals to be developed, the applicant has found that potential interested parties are unwilling to engage in negotiations until definitive dates for the new junction have been determined.”
It is argued that “no reasonable developer” would pursue this further – as they would not build a hotel without having anyone to run it.
You can see the application to delay the Laurencekirk hotel on the council’s website.
Read more:
Fresh hope for Laurencekirk junction work as ‘priority’ new bridge to be built at Oatyhill
Crumbling Laurencekirk drill hall ‘in extremely bad state’ could be turned into home
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