A decision to reinstate community wardens in a north-east town has been hailed by safety campaigners.
Aberdeenshire Council has revealed there is now enough funding to fill the posts in Fraserburgh which were axed as a result of cuts last year.
Last night a spokeswoman for the local authority said the new officers could be in place “in the coming months”.
She said: “Funding is available within the council’s budget that may allow for two community warden posts to be established in Fraserburgh.
“Their roles would be similar to the wardens who currently work in Peterhead although details of the hours they would work and areas of the town they would cover are still under discussion.”
Crucially, the new wardens will have expanded powers to monitor council-managed car parks.
The pair on patrol in Peterhead provide an important link between the local community and police force.
They regularly tackle shop lifters and have been involved in a campaign to crackdown on the sale of legal highs in the town.
Yesterday warden Ian Kennedy said: “We’re very important to police and to shop staff and members of the public.
“Wardens provide visible patrols, we visit shops and we can pick up information that can be given back to the council and police.”
Mr Kennedy and his colleague Cathy Ramsey have previously covered Fraserburgh and said the loss of the two previous wardens has been “a big miss”.
He added: “The feedback from people in Fraserburgh is that they’d love to have them back.”
Fraserburgh councillor Brian Topping, chairman of the local safety group has repeatedly called for the posts to be reinstated, claiming the lack of regular warden patrols had left the town vulnerable to antisocial behaviour.
Last night he said: “We pushed for the introduction of the safety wardens in the first place. We were involved at the very start.
“The money is in the budget and we’re very much looking forward to them coming, to supporting them and working with them locally.”