The ball could start rolling on a multi-million-pound Montrose business park this year, it has emerged.
Developers behind the project, dubbed North Montrose, imagine energy firms and big business would come to use the town as a waypoint for the North Sea renewables industry.
The John Lawrie Group’s plans for the former airfield off Charleton Road were originally submitted in June 2014, but hit a stumbling block due to fears that local infrastructure does not support extra traffic.
Transport Scotland expressed concerns over the amount of extra haulage on the A90 at Laurencekirk, and ruled that any Angus Council planning approval would forbid development to start until the A937 junction near Laurencekirk is upgraded.
Now that the Scottish Government has allocated £24 million for a flyover at Laurencekirk’s south junction on to the A90, the mothballed plans are set to be decided by development standards councillors this month.
Director for the Scottish metal re-processor and steel trading company, Charlie Parker, previously told The Courier that plans are still “very fluid” but he hopes any resulting development would be “great for the town”.
The North Sea oil and gas industry is already an important trade in Montrose port with the town’s close proximity to offshore wind fields such as Inchcape a big selling point.
A brochure was presented to attendees at conferences to get feedback from the offshore and renewables sector, and big names have indicated early interest in coming to town.
Established in Aberdeen in the 1930s, John Lawrie Group has offices on Forties Road, Montrose, and is one of the UK’s foremost firms in its field, employing more than 100 people in the UK, US and Europe.
The firm has owned the site for more than a decade, and it has remained disused apart from a former golf practice range that is now use by the local links club as a turf nursery.
The firm believes the site’s proximity to Montrose harbour is “an opportunity” to develop a logistics and supply base that would support offshore windfarms and work boats. It is understood planning permission in principle will be decided on February 16.