Aberdeenshire Council is launching a five-year project to upgrade car parks across the region.
Council officials will invest around £500,000 from the £130million infrastructure fund, agreed in March, into improving worn-out and dilapidated parking facilities.
The local authority currently runs and maintains 113 public car parks across 43 areas in Aberdeenshire – providing a total of 4,088 spaces for residents.
As part of the improvements, a number of facilities will undergo essential works to repair any environmental degradation, and be brought up to higher standard.
This includes installing underground cables and empty duckts to facilitate the potential set up of EV charging points at a later date.
Bay sizes will also be re-assessed on a case-by-case basis, and requirements for blue badge and mobility accessible parking, as well as motorcycle allocation, will be reviewed.
‘Backlog in required improvements’
Parking facilities, which have been identified to be in the worst condition, as well as those in town centres, will be prioritised.
Infrastructure services committee chairman John Crawley said: “The £500,000 allocation to car park upgrades from the infrastructure fund will allow a start to be made in addressing the current backlog in required improvements and our clear approach will ensure that this additional money is targeted effectively to achieve the greatest lasting benefit to our car parking assets.”
Vice-chairwoman Isobel Davidson added: “This is a very welcome investment in our car park infrastructure and will help us future-proof many of our facilities for many years to come.
“Of course we have to be pragmatic and be clear that not all of our car parks can be improved at this time.
“However the re-assessment of parking bay sizes is particularly welcome as cars have increased in size considerably in recent year and will make it much easier and safer for those accessing their vehicles.”
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