The new Aberdeenshire Council administration has vowed to breathe new life into plans to regenerate four north-east towns.
The local authority’s Four Town’s strategy to improve the ailing centres of Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Banff and Macduff was announced two years ago.
But now, following a power shift at Woodhill House, the new ruling SNP-led alliance has committed to refreshing the proposals.
On Thursday, members of the council’s infrastructure services committee will be asked to agree on a timetable for a review of the town centre strategy.
In a report, the authority’s infrastructure chief Stephen Archer says: “The current regeneration strategy for Aberdeenshire, approved in 2013, focuses effort and budgets on Fraserburgh and is concentrated on the need for social, physical and economic intervention.
“It is proposed that the council carries out a refresh of its approach to regeneration, building on the work carried out to date in Fraserburgh and the town centres of Banff, Macduff, Fraserburgh and Peterhead.”
If members of the infrastructure committee agree with Mr Archer’s recommendations on Thursday, it is expected that local councillors and members of the public will be involved in a wide-reaching consultation before the end of December.
Council officers would then hope to draw up a revised strategy to bring back to the committee in March.
Last night committee vice-chairman and Peterhead councillor Stephen Smith said: “The current regeneration strategy was agreed over two years ago and was supported by the then opposition. With a new council administration in place, it’s right that we review progress and refresh our approach.
“During the next two months, we’ll be discussing and consulting on an updated strategy and I expect we will see a wider approach taken to regeneration so that it is about much more than just town centres, important though they are, and will help address recent employment issues which have arisen.”
Mr Smith stressed that the SNP-led administration’s decision to review the regeneration strategy should not be seen as a criticism of proposals already taken forward by the council.