The latest Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee meeting was held on Tuesday 9th June at Viewmount. The agenda and supporting reports are available here, along with the recordings of the public part of the meeting.
The reports presented and discussed in public were
· Closure of Kinneff School Statutory Consultation Report
· Retrospective planning application, St Michael’s Road, Newtonhill
· K&M Area Committee budget 2026/27
· K&M Community Council Grants 2026/27
· Education and Children’s Services year end performance monitoring report 2025/26
Closure of Kinneff School Statutory Consultation Report
Kinneff School was mothballed in August 2024, and a permanent closure was proposed in October 2025, with the catchment area being reassigned to either Bervie or Catterline schools. The required statutory consultation took place between January and March 2026 and the responses indicated support for the closure of Kinneff School and merging it with Catterline School.
After some discussion around the provision of school transport councillors unanimously approved the proposal. This will now go to the Education and Children’s Services Committee in August for a final decision.
Retrospective planning application, St Michael’s Road, Newtonhill
This application related to a fence built partly to the front of a property in St Michael’s Road. The application came before the area committee because Newtonhill, Muchalls and Cammachmore Community Council objected on the basis that the fence was “not in keeping with the visual coherence of the neighbourhood”. The planning department recommended that permission be granted, and this was agreed unanimously.
K&M Area Committee budget 2026/27
There is £17,800 available in the K&M Area budget for this year. It was proposed that £2,800 be reserved to support communities with local place planning and development of community action plans. If a balance remains in December it will be returned to the open fund for community applications. The criteria for applicants is a maximum grant of £2,000, with 50% match funding.
After highlighting that the application process should be as straightforward as practicable for small volunteer groups the recommendation was agreed unanimously.
K&M Community Council Grants 2026/27
This report details the grants allocated to community councils across K&M. Each council is given £600 to cover admin and running costs, plus a share of the remaining balance according to elector numbers. Stonehaven and District Community Council receive £600 plus £1185, based on an electorate of 9228.
There was significant concern raised about the increased monitoring of community council spending, causing fear and pressure among community council members. Some local councillors expressed a feeling that community councils should be entirely voluntary, with others commenting that the increased complexity of the work community councils are expected to undertake means they need the flexibility to buy in expertise if necessary. There was also concern that any underspend is returned at the end of the year, potentially leading to unnecessary expenditure. Tim Stephen, the area manager, assured councillors that there would be flexibility in monitoring the admin grant spend. With comments duly noted the allocations were agreed unanimously.
Education and Children’s Services year end performance monitoring report 2025/26
This report was presented by Laurence Findlay, Director of Education and Children’s Services. Some of the key successes he highlighted were achievements in numeracy, foundation apprenticeship completion rates and overall attendance. Areas for improvement include increasing participation numbers in Live Life Aberdeenshire (LLA) facilities and to increase the number of eligible two-year-olds accessing Early Learning and Childcare.
Questions were asked about plans for these improvements, and each was answered in detail. A specific question about post school destinations highlighted that an increase in gap years abroad can lower a school’s positive destination rates, as volunteering abroad is not considered a positive destination.
Councillor’s comments were noted and Mr Findlay was thanked for his report.
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 30th June.