A property firm has unveiled plans for an £80 million business, retail and leisure complex after acquiring 64 acres of Aberdeenshire farmland.

Ashfield Land bought the ground at Blackdog from Colin Tawse for an undisclosed sum and now wants to deliver up to 400,000sq ft of business park and about 200,000sq ft of retail and leisure facilities on the site next to the main A90 Aberdeen-Fraserburgh road.

A masterplan for the site is currently being developed with Kirkwood Homes. The firm will take forward the adjacent site, which is allocated for 600 homes.

Ashfield says a proposal of application notice has been issued, and it expects to submit a planning application in early 2016.

Steven McGarva, director at Ashfield Land, said: “Ashfield is thrilled to have secured the site and be working on this development.

“We look forward to working in partnership with Kirkwood, the local authority and other stakeholders to deliver a high quality lifestyle, leisure and, ultimately, a global business location in Aberdeenshire within Europe’s largest offshore oil and gas cluster. Scotland is an area of key strategic importance for Ashfield and this is one of several major developments we are currently working on.”