Icehouse redevelopment to go to a hearing

Plans to redevelop a 200-year-old former icehouse on the shores of the Moray Firth are to be the subject of a planning hearing.

Officers in Moray Council’s planning section had recommended refusal of the application to extend the structure at Portgordon to form a coffee shop and staff accommodation.

However members of the council’s planning and regulatory services committee voted in favour of adjourning consideration to a hearing in view of the volume of letters of support for the application.

Seven objections were received to the redevelopment plans compared with 48 letters of support, most of them from people living Portgordon.

Officers had recommended refusal on the grounds that the proposed development was not among exceptions permitted within the coastal protection zone and was not considered appropriate in preserving the area’s open coastal character.

In addition, they believed the extension would have a detrimental impact on the icehouse’s architectural and historic merits.

The hearing, a date for which still has to be set, will allow both objectors and supporters of the development to present their respective cases to the committee.

Moray Council area stretches from Tomintoul in the south to the shores of the Moray Firth, from Keith in the east to Forres in the west. The council and its 4,500 employees respond to the needs of 95,510 residents in this beautiful part of Scotland, which nestles between Aberdeenshire and the Highlands.

Famous for its colony of dolphins, fabulous beaches and more malt whisky distilleries than any where else in Scotland, Moray is a thriving area and a great place to live.

Headquartered in  Elgin, the administrative capital of Moray.