Plans to regenerate the south of Montrose and attract millions of pounds of investment to the town came under public scrutiny at the George Hotel.
Local people took the opportunity to talk to Angus Council representatives and the consultants responsible for producing the South Montrose Draft Development Masterplan.
Redevelopment of the commercially important area of land around Montrose Port, including a new road, is viewed as key to the town’s ability to attract major new investment and jobs.
Last week senior representatives of GlaxoSmithKlein visited their Montrose site, in the running with three other GSK sites for a £500 million bio pharmaceutical development.
Speaking after visiting the consultation event yesterday, Montrose Councillor Mark Salmond said: “It is now two years since this review process began and the public are now being consulted on the results the consultants, Ironside Farr, are bringing forward.”
He said comments from members of the public he spoke to were “all positive”.
He added: “One of the main proposals will bring major road improvements to the south end of Montrose and will allow this area to be further developed from a business perspective. This area of land houses the GSK plant among others and I am sure the new road proposal will be of great assistance to the Montrose bid team in trying to bring the £500m BioPharm Project to the Montrose GSK factory.”
Montrose Councillor David May said: “The regeneration of this area will also have the impetus to attract new businesses to the area as well as help sustain existing business.
“It has to be remembered that part of the reason for the redevelopment of this area is to tap into the possible offshore renewable energy development off the Angus coastline. Montrose Port is Angus’s only commercial port and is bidding to attract companies who wish to service and maintain the hundreds of offshore wind turbines once they are installed.
“It is vital for the success of this bid that modern infrastructure requirements are created here.”
Mr Salmond said: “What alarms me is that the South Montrose Masterplan would not have been carried out if the Angus SNP had got their way.
“Though only a draft proposal at the moment, the masterplan clearly states that if fully implemented the economic benefit to Angus and the wider Scottish economy over a 25-year period is potentially £315m with the creation of 150 jobs in the construction phase and over 200 operational jobs on completion.”
He called on SNP councillors Sandy West and Paul Valentine to now support the council decision to produce the masterplan.