Stonehaven and District Community Council (SDCC) held their regular business meeting on Tuesday 12th May 2026. The agenda for the meeting can be found on the SDCC website, and the major points discussed are detailed below.
The meeting started with the introduction of a proposed new member of SDCC, Trish Gripper, who was then unanimously voted onto SDCC.
The next item was a brief report from PC Charnley on behalf of Police Scotland. He explained that he would now be attending meetings more regularly, and he also brought a new style police report, which separates Stonehaven information from the wider area. Topics raised by members included parking, both around the Market Square and the harbour area; young people’s behaviour around the Farmfoods bus stop and elsewhere; and the upcoming procession on 27th June.
Supermarket Presentations by Developers
Two presentations then followed, firstly on behalf of the Aldi/M&S application at Ury Estate, then by Ashfield Land on behalf of the planned Tesco reapplication at New Mains of Ury. As the first is a current application more details can be found here. Ashfield hope to have their application submitted by late May. One of the key differences from their previous application is the revised Retail Impact Assessment, which has been carried out by NEMS Market Research, who are also used by local authorities.
This item concluded with the presentation of the results of the supermarket survey which was conducted by SDCC during March and April. Some of the key findings from the 955 responses were that
· 81% of respondents do their main shopping outwith Stonehaven
· 50% do their main shop in Portlethen, with the remainder shopping in other locations in the area
· 76% supported the building of a supermarket at New Mains of Ury, as well as the stores planned for Ury Estate
· 87% thought that, in the event of both locations being approved, their local shopping would either remain the same or increase.
Following the three presentations it was proposed and agreed that SDCC would support the development of both retail locations.
SDCC Funds
With the SDCC AGM due to be held in June, and the declared intention of the chair and the treasurer to stand down, concern was raised that the funds held by SDCC would be frozen if no replacement office bearers were appointed. The funds concerned are the defibrillator, resilience, Christmas tree and nippy dip accounts. It was proposed that these funds be transferred to Stonehaven Town Partnership (STP), on the basis that management of funds is not core community council business, and the work involved is now being done by STP members. After significant discussion it was agreed to write to STP proposing the transfer. More details can be found in the previous Bellman article.
Dunnottar Martyrs Memorial Loyal Orange Lodge Procession
SDCC intends to write to local councillors with questions regarding the approval of the above procession due to take place on Saturday 27th June. They are concerned about the decision-making process, and what was seen as local objections being disregarded. They highlighted the fact that there were no Kincardine and Mearns representatives on the Licensing subcommittee, and therefore there was no local knowledge about Stonehaven.
Next meeting will be the Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 9th June.