The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)

Proposals approved to revive town’ s old hotel

There may be good news for Aboyne residents eager to see the town’s dilapidate­d Huntly Arms Hotel put to a new use.

A series of schemes that are aimed at breathing new life into the derelict hotel have now been approved.

While elsewhere proposals have been lodged to help protect an Aberdeen church from lightning strikes.

But firstly, before Christmas, it was revealed that the owners of the popular Motif beer garden had sought permission to keep the marquee for another four years.

Hospitalit­y kingpins PB Devco hope to ultimately bring the former Bruce Millers music shop to the front “back into busy use”.

Exactly how remains unknown, but reviving the long-empty Union Street site would help inject new life into the top end of the Granite Mile.

Now the council has sealed plans for the marquee to stay, while work is taking place at the shop.

The only condition is for noise from the city centre nightspot to be kept to a minimum.

Moving to another form of protection from the elements, anyone who has been past Aberdeen’s North Church of St Andrew in recent months will have noticed work taking place on the historic building.

The site has been a place of worship since the 1700s, and the current church dates back 120 years.

In 2017, the Queen Street Church amalgamate­d with St Mark’s Church on Rosemount Viaduct, leaving the building empty.

It was later bought by Trinity Church – with parishione­rs planning a move from their

base nearby on King Street.

And now, owners the Cruden Trust want to make sure their new home is storm-proof.

The charity is seeking the council’s permission to install a “lightning protection system” on the listed place of worship.

Blueprints show how conductors would be attached to the Queen Street structure.

Last year the Cruden Trust was given permission to light up the outside of the building.

The Celebratio­ns ladieswear shop in Turriff closed a few years ago, while the popular home store and restaurant remains open a few doors along Main Street.

The empty building has been offered for sale for £85,000.

Aberdeen-based SJA Property Group now wants to convert the rear of the premises into a new town centre gym.

Blueprints show how there would be room for exercise bikes, treadmills and weights.

Meanwhile, the same developers plan to turn the front section and first floor of the former shop into co-working office space.

The Fraserburg­h Community Church, at 29 Grattan Place in the town, could be expanded by taking over a flat occupying its upper storeys.

The new plans would see the first floor converted into a meeting room and social room (with the kitchen being left as it is).

Bedrooms upstairs would become consulting rooms and an archive store.

Last week, Aberdeen sports fans breathed a sigh of relief when the council budget came to pass without any ill effects for their cherished venues.

This time last year, protests were mounted after a £700,000 cut resulted in the closure of the Beach Leisure Centre and Bucksburn Swimming Pool – though the latter was reversed after a successful campaign.

Now, the Bucksburn building is poised to reopen within about a year. And a new swimming pool is on the cards nearby in Bridge of Don.

The £260,000 plans were lodged last month for a former garage on Scotstown Road.

And already, several supporters are calling on the council to rubberstam­p them.

Bryony Dempster said: “Looking forward to using this facility to help keep my children safe and active.”

Sakthi Norton added: “The developmen­t will bring benefit to the local and wider community.”

Oldmeldrum’s Lesley Cook said the classes run by Aberdeen Swimming Academy in Aberdeensh­ire are often “the only reliable service for our children to learn vital skills” as council sessions are “frequently cancelled”.

Finally, there has been major progress on plans to revive Aboyne’s downtrodde­n Huntly Arms Hotel.

The once-bustling building has lain vacant since 2019, with locals growing increasing­ly concerned about its future.

By the end of 2022, the Huntly Arms Regenerati­on Project volunteers had reached the end of their tether – telling us that they were in a race against time to rescue the venue before it collapsed or was vandalised beyond repair.

Things would get worse before they got better because weeks later a police raid uncovered a cannabis farm.

What seemed like a new low for the Charleston Road landmark was perhaps a case of it always being darkest before dawn.

Owner Jutinder Singh was ordered to carry out a string of repairs by exasperate­d council chiefs who said it had become an eyesore.

By last summer, he confirmed plans to reopen it as a hotel and restaurant.

And since then various plans have been lodged with a trio of transforma­tive projects now given the goahead by the local authority.

They include proposals to turn part of the building into flats for “larger parties of guests”, and a new beer garden out the front.

Meanwhile, historians have accepted plans to replace weathered 100-year-old windows at the C-listed venue.

Sealing the various ideas, council planners stated: “The refurbishm­ent is required due to the water and damp experience­d whilst vacant for several years.

“The applicant’s desire to restore this vacant property is evident by the quality of the proposed remedial works and enthusiasm using high-quality materials.”