The path is being cleared for bulldozers to tear down homes to make way for long-awaited road improvements in Aberdeen.
The council’s planning department has ruled the local authority will not need to seek further approval to tear down buildings from 166 to 170 Hutcheon Street to complete the Berryden Corridor scheme.
The 19th Century house and more modern flat block are to demolished to allow space for a dual carriageway, doing away with the congestion blackspot judged to be operating “beyond capacity” at peak times.
What is involved in the Berryden Corridor scheme?
Decades in the making and last costed at more than £26 million, the new wider road is proposed to run from Skene Square to the Kittybrewster roundabout at the top of St Machar Drive.
In August, councillors unanimously voted through plans for the first section of the dual carriageway, from Ashgrove Road to the Kittybrewster roundabout via a new section of road behind homes in Great Northern Road.
At the time, it was understood around 100 plots of land needed for the road still remained outside of council control, accounting for around 20% of the total land needed.
Recommendations from Scottish Government’s reporter, who will eventually inform ministers on the local authority’s compulsory purchase orders for the disputed sites, have been delayed by the pandemic.
But case officers have now visited the city to get a better understanding of the issues and are to begin interviewing objectors and the council by Zoom in the coming weeks.
Last week, the planning authority decreed the proposal was permitted development, meaning no prior approval was needed for the work.
Space created by the demolition will allow for the road to be widened, relocation of an electric sub-station and a so-called “pocket park”.
Salvable granite will be reclaimed from the condemned buildings to be used to build a new boundary wall for the nearby remaining homes or in some other way as part of the project.
Chief strategic place planning officer Gale Beattie outlined the reasons for the decision: “The demolition of the building is required as part of the Berryden Corridor improvement project, a key element in the council’s long-term strategy to reduce traffic within the city centre.
“Specific details of the method of demolition are not available at this point however it is not anticipated that there would be any abnormal requirements.
“Any reusable granite would be salvaged and utilised for boundary walls or elsewhere within the road project.”
The ruling does not affect the need for building warrants before spades can break ground.
Planning chiefs have already approved the demolition of 1 and 2 Caroline Place, across the road from the Hutcheon Street properties.
