Repairs will begin on footpaths in a north-east nature reserve next week, using money gathered from bus lane fines.
Around £98,000 from the fines collected last year have been budgeted to repair more than one mile of paths in Kincorth Hill Local Nature Reserve.
Aberdeen City Council environmental planner Karen van Eeden said: “The works to improve the core paths on Kincorth Hill will be of huge benefit to the local community.
“Improvements to path surface conditions, reducing water damage and the opening up of view points over the city will provide attractive and welcoming recreational paths for people to use.”
A number of major storms in recent years have seen paths in the area eroded and washed away.
Chris York from Walking-the-Talk, who is designing the new paths, said: “We are trying to treat the cause of the problem by installing better drainage around the paths and making sure that water doesn’t get the chance to wreak havoc in the future.
“We have been asked to look at the most damaged paths on the hill and I’ve met a lot of local folk whilst I’ve been doing the survey work so have had some good advice on conditions.
“We will need to close individual paths while they are being repaired but we’ll try to make sure that there are signs in place for diversions.”
Fines totalling £2.48million were issued by Aberdeen City Council in the first year of bus lane enforcement, although a reduction for paying the fine promptly means significant reduction in cost. They were gathered by the city’s 11 fixed cameras which cover roads including King Street and Great Northern Road.
Councillor Neil Cooney, convener of the communities, housing and infrastructure committee said: “We are really pleased to be putting the money generated through bus lane penalties to good use.
“At a time when council budgets are tight it’s great to have a positive outcome at Kincorth, where we have known about the problems with the paths but have had no funds available to fix them.”