Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Veteran architect brands Aberdeenshire Council ‘out of touch’ over plans to scrap free parking

Aberdeenshire Council's HQ.
Aberdeenshire Council's HQ.

A veteran businessman has branded a north-east council “out of touch” after it revealed it was considering abolishing free parking in town centres.

Aberdeenshire Council is considering reviewing its parking policy at more than a dozen car parks in towns including Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Turriff, Ellon, Inverurie and Banchory.

Currently, people are entitled to free parking for between 30 minutes and an hour.

But under the proposals, outlined in a report by infrastructure director Stephen Archer, council bosses want to scrap the offer – despite acknowledging it has helped draw people into town centres once again.

The controversial proposals, which will save the authority about £160,000, have sparked an outcry from local businesses in these towns and now a well-known architect has joined the opposition.

William Lippe, whose architect business has been a fixture of Inverurie for more than 30 years, said: “I couldn’t believe what I was reading, I was just flabbergasted.

“Any of the retailers in the town will be of the same opinion, it just shows how remote and out of touch the council is from the real business world.

“They’re talking about saving £160,000 and in relation to their overall budget that’s nothing.

“They need to invest in town centres, encourage development and help retailers. The last thing they should be doing is discouraging people from stopping there.

“I’m on the edge of the town but a lot of my clients are in the centre and will be affected.

“They are one of only two authorities in Scotland which has increased the number of staff, some of whom have six figure salaries, I think that’s another area that Mr Archer could look at.

Mr Archer said the proposals were made to help plug a budget deficit.

He said: “While the introduction of the free tariffs has resulted in an increase in use, it has also had a significant impact on revenue.

“Before the revised tariffs, income from car parking charges was £100,000 to £200,000 greater than all of the expenditure on car parks.

“That situation changed to one where the position was reversed. The current projected budget position for 2017/18 is that there will be a £160,000 deficit.”