Aberdeenshire residents claim their voices are being drowned out as they fight to stop a supermarket being built just feet from their back gardens.
People who live at New Mains of Ury, on the outskirts of Stonehaven, say the plan to build the store would further “urbanise” their rural area, and have raised concerns about increased congestion, noise and air pollution.
Brothers David and Richard Strang Steel of the Sluie Estate
want to build a 4,000 square metre supermarket, petrol station and car park off the B979 Stonehaven to Maryculter road.
The project would involve the demolition of unused farm buildings and the New Mains of Ury Farmhouse – the pair’s childhood home.
The brothers insist that the supermarket would meet the needs of the Stonehaven community, adding they have made every effort to mitigate the impact on the residents.
They hope the development will go in front of the Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee as early as March.
However, some have claimed that people are not being given the chance to air their views.
Local George Forrester said that some residents at the neighbouring newly-built Kirkwood Homes site had not been given time to object.
The 74-year-old is opposed to the scheme, saying that the natural light which currently comes into his living room would be blocked by the development and the proposed boundary of trees around it.
The retired bank manager, who stays at New Mains with wife Valerie, added that the development would only be “five to six yards from our back fence”.
And he said that lorries and cars in “low gears” making their way along the road would bring noise and air pollution to the area.
He said: “They tried to say there is very few objections to this – well there is bound to be, do you see any other properties? The people at the Kirkwood Homes didn’t know about it. At the most a handful of people probably knew about it.
“We’ve been put into an invidious position because there is nobody else there to speak up for us.”
David Strang Steel has said the supermarket would create more than 200 jobs in the area and prevent locals from travelling to Portlethen, Banchory, Aberdeen and Montrose for their shopping.
A spokeswoman for the Sluie Estate said: “They (the trust) have been as accommodating and sympathetic to the situation as possible. They have made the store to the opposite side of where the cottages are.
“They have heard these comments and have done as much as they can do to mitigate (the impact). They have really been working as much with the property owners as much as possible.”
She added discussions were on-going with Traffic Scotland in regards to the issue of noise pollution.