Moray Council will plough £60,000 into studies aimed at reducing parking problems in Elgin – despite fears the ambitious scheme could prove a waste of money.
Councillors narrowly backed plans to devise a car parking strategy yesterday, after hearing of the difficulty motorists faced in finding a space in the crowded town centre.
The review will scrutinise the lack of available spaces and gauge car park usage levels, before shaping a strategy to tackle the issues.
Elgin City South councillor Graham Leadbitter said car parks around the heart of the town were “overflowing”, with insufficient space to meet their demand.
Mr Leadbitter said: “We have a complex parking situation in Elgin, it affects people commuting into the town for work and visitors who want to reach tourist destinations.
“Hospital parking is a problem, with the car park there overflowing, and Moray College’s car park is always packed, with vehicles flowing into neighbouring streets.”
Fellow ward member John Divers said the parking situation in Elgin had grown “dire”.
Members received a report which explained that £60,000 in funding was available in the authority’s economic development budget for the work.
But council convener Allan Wright cast doubt on moves to lavish the huge sum at a time when the council is having to cut costs.
Mr Wright added: “This is in the budget, but it may be that we need to save from this budget in order to deliver higher priority services.
“I’m not sure that spending £60,000 on this is value for money.
“It seems to me that people nowadays park where and how they will, and I don’t believe spending £60,000 to look at these issues will make a whit of difference to that.”
Speyside Glenlivet member Fiona Murdoch suggested the council wait until long-term plans to regenerate Elgin town centre were finished before implementing the review.
However, Mr Leadbitter said that idea could mean waiting more than 15 years to re-evaluate parking in the town.
“This is an urgent problem, and we can’t ignore it”, he said.
Mr Divers added that the situation will only worsen with an expected 4,5000 houses being built in Elgin over the next few decades.
Ultimately Mr Leadbitter and Mr Divers’s motion to progress the review secured support by seven votes to six.