ABERDEENSHIRE Council want to place hundreds of cones around Stonehaven town centre – turning parking spaces into safe space for pedestrians.
And our beachfront businesses could be corralled by water-filled barriers like those on the Bervie Braes – again to give more pavement room for social distancing.
The plan below shows what is on the cards, with work intended to start at the beginning of July for implementation on Friday July 3. A 20mph speed restriction would also be introduced.
Because of the high footfall at the seafront businesses on Beach Road, the roads service are putting measures in place there too.
A priority traffic system would also be introduced, with vehicles entering from the north having priority over vehicles travelling north.
Similar temporary measures across the Shire
The local authority announced at the end of last week it had been successful in its £310,000 project bid ”to ensure people are able to safely access services in town centres while maintaining physical distancing”.
The funding will cover 100% of the cost of temporary infrastructure projects, such as the proposals for Stonehaven, in the Shire’s six largest town centres – Banchory, Ellon, Fraserburgh, Inverurie, Peterhead and Stonehaven.
Councillors say proposals need local support to go ahead
There has been a rushed consultation on the proposals, which ends tomorrow. Various stakeholders, including the Business Association and the Stonehaven Town Partnership were invited to a Skype conference last Wednesday.
Our Business Association have posted the proposals on their Facebook page and are asking people to comment.
Cllr Wendy Agnew said the measures would not go ahead if people were not happy with them. She said she thought the proposals were a knee jerk reaction by Aberdeenshire Council and would quickly become unnecessary as social distancing measures are reduced.
And she said she was not happy about the impact they would have on the town centre.
”If you ruin the businesses you have no town centre,” she said, ”Where are all the displaced cars going to go? What about disabled people? It is just crazy.”
Cllr Sarah Dickinson said the temporary measures were aimed at providing safe access and safe social distancing. But she echoed Mrs Agnew’s reassurance they would not be imposed upon the town if they were not what people wanted.
She said: ”Not all the shops are open. When they do open, people will be required to queue. So queueing will increase.
”So the intention is to widen the pavements. But obviously that is on-street parking, which is residents parking and there are issues around deliveries that will need to be bottomed out.
”And if the community really don’t want it, then it won’t be implemented.”
If you would like your comments on the proposals to be noted, please email the Roads Department on Kincardineandmearns.roads@aberdeenshire.gov.uk
