Angus Council is to develop a masterplan for the area to the north of the county's only commercially operating port in Montrose.

The masterplan will take account of land use and planning briefs for important buildings; opportunities for the port's expansion and improvements to the infrastructure serving the area, including road accesses and the potential for a port/rail/road interchange.

The need for a comprehensive masterplan emerged from earlier studies carried out by the council namely the Montrose Economic Study and the appraisal carried out into the viability of a link road between Montrose and Brechin.

The Montrose-Brechin link road had been proposed as a means of improving the access route for vehicles accessing Montrose Port. However the appraisal found that the link road could not be justified on economic or environmental grounds as offering a solution to the port's transport problems. Indeed, haulage firms servicing businesses at the port did not consider the link to have high priority.

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Commenting on the masterplan proposal, which was approved by the council's Strategic Policy Committee on Tuesday (8 September) the deputy leader of the council Ian Mackintosh said: "Montrose Port is Angus' only commercial port, supporting around 500 jobs across the county. It is ideally placed to serve the growing offshore wind power sector just as it has attracted investments associated with the oil and gas sector.

"Given its economic importance it's vital that we take a strategic approach to the development and sustainability of the port area. The proposal now agreed by the council is to develop a far reaching masterplan - from land use and development opportunities to improved access routes and a transport interchange."

Councillor Mackintosh said the impact of the final agreed plan on future capital programmes would need careful consideration.

"It will be early 2011 before we have that masterplan so the £4.5m identified for the A90 (T)/A935 link road in the roads division's capital plan will instead be considered for road improvements projects across Angus over the next four years. The specific roads projects, including any that come out of the masterplanning exercise will be prioritised and considered during the 2010/11 and beyond budget setting process."

(GK/KMcA)