The application, by the Bennachie Land Company, Pitcaple, had originally generated 19 letters of representation, and a further 15 letters were received following the decision to defer the application. At the previous meeting it was also decided to allow two interested parties, one in favour and one opposed, to address the Garioch Area Committee.

Garioch Area Planning Officer, Lesley Aitken, outlined the application for Committee Members. She noted that the land was allocated for housing and would be acceptable if the drainage matters were resolved. Improvements to the road would be carried out to improve the "blind bend" at the site.

She informed members that significant work had been carried out by the applicant regarding the concerns over drainage problems, that the development would include an area of open space and strategic landscaping, that the access road would be made up to an acceptable standard.

The main concerns over housing on this site were the drainage issues. Following concerns voiced by SEPA and local residents at the original application, the revised application features a package sewage treatment plant in each of the six plots, mound soakaways for five of the plots and a normal soakaway for the remaining plot.

Lesley Aitken told members that following the new tests carried out by Geotechnical and Environmental Services on behalf of the applicants SEPA were satisfied that investigations were carried out to the standard required and would issue registration certificates.

Committee Chair Martin Kitts-Hayes then invited local resident Stephen McMinn to speak on behalf of local residents that objected to the application. Mr McMinn told the committee that the Durno area suffers from "soil sickness" and that the area could not accept any more buildings without the drainage situation being addressed.

He added that the area is not served by mains sewage and SEPA had commented that building more soakaways would have to be to the Council's decision. He stated that he did not see how the pollution risk in Durno could be ignored, adding that Aberdeenshire Council had an obligation to prevent more pollution and reduce that that already existed.

Mr McMinn then answered questions from Committee members.
Committee Chair Martin Kitts-Hayes thanked Mr McMinn for his comments and introduced Mr William Lippe to speak in support of the application. Mr Lippe introduced Sarah McGregor of Geotechnical and Environmental On-Site Services, who carried out the additional perculation tests.

Mr Lippe informed the Committee that the development was of very low density despite the site being 1.15 hectares. He highlighted the revised drainage proposals for the site, which featured two types of drainage; the SUDS (sustainable urban drainage system) to deal with surface water and each house would also have a mound filter system to deal with foul water drainage.

He pointed out that the tests carried out for the initial application were to the industry standard at the time, and the new tests had been carried out strictly in accordance with British standard that is approved by Aberdeenshire Council and SEPA. Mr Lippe stated that the technical objections no longer applied to the application.

Sarah McGregor explained the mound filter system to the Committee, saying that these were designed for when the ground is not suitable for standard soakaways and featured a mound of tilled top soil that allowed the waste water to filter down through the mound and be dispersed through the bed rock below.

Mr Lippe then answered further questions from the Committee before being thanked for his input by Committee Chair Martin Kitts-Hayes. .
West Garioch Councillor Allison Grant told the committee: "I have serious reservations about this proposal, and although there has been an apparent lot of work done, it does not allay my fears. I cannot see how this provides any reassurance at all. We cannot allow any further pollution in this area."

Inverurie and District Councillor Michael Raeburn asked for clarification from the Council's Head of Law and Administration, Gordon Davidson, if Councillors or the Council would be held responsible should further pollution occur. He was informed that as long as the application had met all the required standards there would be no responsibility with the Committee or the Council.

Councillor Raeburn stated concerns on relying on the bedrock to percolate the waste, saying that it was a very imprecise science and that a lot of care must be taken. He added that he was not convinced that the system could be installed successfully in the area of the application.

Westhill and District Councillor Gurudeo Saluja commented: "It is quite clear that conditions have to be met. I have concerns regarding the Planning Department statement: 'as we have no way of disproving the information provided by the drainage designers, we have to take on face value the information we are given by reputable Engineers'. It is disturbing that we can't tell what the outcome will be and that we have to take it on face value. I am not at all happy with that statement."

Planning Officer Lesley Aitken replied that Planning and Environmental Services had to take in good faith the technical details, and that the Council's own Building Standards department had checked the information.

West Garioch councillor Sheena Lonchay said: "I appreciate the huge concern locally but it is difficult to find any grounds to disapprove the application."

Councillor Grant commented that she felt it was the Committee's duty to protect the environment and proposed that the Committee reject the applications on the grounds that it did not comply with Council policy Inf(4A, Foul Drainage Standards, Inf(4B, Surface Water Drainage Standards and Gen(1, Sustainability Principles. This was seconded by Councillor Michael Raeburn.

Committee Chair Martin Kitts-Hayes commente: "This is a extremely difficult decision as I am not an expert on drainage. However, we have to accept the information given, and on terms of fairness I will move that we grant the application."

This was seconded by inverurie and District Councillor Richard Cowling who added: "The application has gone through a lot on policy, and although I would like to see a sample taken on pollution levels in the burn and details of flooding on site, the site is low density, and with rainfall falling on new garden ground that should reduce surface water I can see no reason to refuse the application."

Following a vote, the Committee agreed to delegate authority to grant outline planning permission to Head of Development management and Building standards subject to conditions.

Following the decision, Councillor Allison grant told the Herald of her disappointment at the lack of support from fellow Garioch Area Committee members that resulted in the approval of the application.
She said: "It was disheartening to find that despite the very real and valid concerns raised and discussed at Committee regarding the crucial drainage issues and potential environmental impact at Durno, so few of my fellow councillors chose to refuse the application.

"It is my belief that we should not grant planning permission for developments unless we can be absolutely sure that the drainage issues have been properly resolved."