Nearly £140,000 of roadworks is needed to clear the way for a major regeneration project on the edge of a north-east town centre.
Aberdeenshire Council wants to breathe new life into Fraserburgh’s Fairney Business Park which has lain dormant for several years.
The site has failed to attract new investment following concerns it was crumbling into the sea. A recent study found part of the land was eroding at a rate of 3ft every 10 years.
Last summer, councillors agreed to spend £80,000 revamping the site, although they rejected proposals for £500,000 worth of work to stabilise the decaying cliff edge.
Now the local authority has struck a deal to relocate nearby scrap merchant Williamson’s to the business park.
The move will allow Aberdeenshire Council to take over Williamson’s existing yard at Denmark Street, which will be redeveloped as part of a wider multimillion-pound masterplan project for the town’s northern area.
But before any work can go ahead, Westshore Road – which leads into Fairney park – will need to be upgraded to cope with a fresh influx of vehicles, including construction traffic.
Next week, members of the Banff and Buchan area committee will be asked to approve just over £136,000 worth of improvements to the route. The job is expected to go to Banff-based Colin Smith Contractors.
A local authority spokesman said: “The estate cannot be developed without the works. The proposals include junction improvements and the diversion of utilities to take account of these alterations.”
Local councillor Ian Tait said last night: “I am in total support of this move. This will safeguard work at Williamson’s and provide the company with a new base and it will also benefit the council because regeneration work can begin on the firm’s Denmark Street site.”
Problems first emerged at Fairney seven years ago when a deal to move engineering firm Power Jacks on to the site collapsed after it was found the land on the north-western edge was unstable.
Bosses at the Fraserburgh company pulled out of the move from its South Harbour Road HQ, claiming the cost of moving to the Fairney estate and safeguarding it from erosion would not be covered by the sale of its premises.
The company opened a new base at Ellon instead.