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Dear Messrs Cockhead and Garvie,

TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING (SCOTLAND ACT) 1997

NORTH EAST SCOTLAND TOGETHER (NEST) STRUCTURE PLAN

The Scottish Ministers have decided to approve the North East Scotland Together (NEST) Structure Plan which was submitted on 26^th April 2001. In reaching their decision they have considered all representations and objections made to them in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Structure and Local Plans)(Scotland) Regulations 1983. In addition to the matters taken into account in the Plan as submitted, the Scottish Ministers have considered such other matters as they thought relevant.

The Plan is approved subject to a number of modifications, which are set out in Annex A to this letter. At Annex B are comments on objections made to the Scottish Ministers during public consultation on the submitted Plan and on the draft modifications where the Scottish Ministers have not accepted the substance of the objections and, as a consequence, propose no modifications to the Plan.

Of particular importance are the modifications promoting housing in the countryside in the interests of local needs, local economic development and services and supporting small scale, homebased economic activity in rural areas. They recognise the suitability of certain groups of buildings to convert to houses and businesses provided they are not too distant from defined settlements and service centres. The modification on the football stadium remains unchanged from draft as it is the SFA’s bid for the Euro 2008 championship which creates the "very special circumstances" to enable the Scottish Executive to give conditional support to such an exception to green belt policy. It also remains a condition of the modification that any new stadium meets the requirements of NPPG 11 on normal planning considerations, such as traffic, parking, access to public transport and conflicts with neighbouring uses.

Whilst the Scottish Ministers’ approval of the Plan, as modified, is founded primarily on the consideration of policies and proposals, it relates to the plan as a whole. It should be understood that the Scottish Ministers’ approval of the Plan does not convey approval of any matter therein for any other statutory purpose. In particular, it does not commit the Scottish Ministers, or any other Government department, to the payment of grant on any particular project or to the amount or timing of any capital expenditure.

The Plan shall become operative on 21^st December 2001.

The foregoing decision is final, subject to the right, conferred by Section 238 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, of any person aggrieved by the Scottish Ministers’ decision to apply to the Court of Session within 6 weeks from the date of publication of the first notice of the approval of the Plan, whereby the Court may quash the decision if satisfied that it is not within the powers of the Act or that applicant’s interests have been substantially prejudiced by a failure to comply with any requirement of the Act.

I am sending a copy of this letter and annexes to your respective Chief Executives and to all those who have made representations since the Plan was submitted.

Yours sincerely,

Thomas Hardie

Principal Planner