Planning Surgeries at Towie House in Turriff have had a brief stay of execution.
It was previously announced that Planning Surgeries would no longer be held in Turriff after December 2016. We have now been told that the monthly surgeries will continue to be held until at least the end of the financial year.
The Withdrawal of the service was due to a lack of use by the community which had been monitored over 2 years.
An E-mail from the Formartine Area Planning Office said
the service will not be withdrawn and will be reconsidered in March 2017.
would propose to postpone earlier plans to cease staffing the office until at least the end of the financial year to allow interest to hopefully pick up.
Withdrawing the service due to a clear lack of use was simply as a consequence of an evidenced lack of use over 2 years or more. Hopefully future interest in the service can result in the service being maintained and, indeed,reinstated back to a more frequent basis.
We will reinstate the service from 10 Jan 2017 and then on the first Wednesday of Feb and March.
The combined Formartine & Buchan area was the only area in Aberdeenshire to lose the Area Office Surgeries.
The Planning Surgeries can be used to discuss your own plans to build or extend with member of the planning team, before you enter an application or to discuss other planning applications such as the plans for 231 affordable homes on the land behind the new Markethill Primary School.
It is very much a use it or lose it situation, if there is no uptake in the number of people using the planning surgeries then they will no doubt be withdrawn in 2017.
