A public display of suggestions to come out of the design charrette process in Montrose has gone on display.
Among the suggestions were widening pedestrian access in the High Street, improving the area around the town’s train station and improving the links from the centre to the beach.
The event follows a three day process in March which was led by consultants Austin-Smith: Lord.
As well as the public display at the town library there were also two presentations by the firm. There was also a chance for people in the town to give feedback.
Graham Ross from Austin-Smith:Lord said: “We’ve had some very passionate, forthright views shared. Folk in the town have been very generous with their time and ideas.
“Here in Montrose you have one of the exemplar Scottish royal burghs. The High Street and the closes are a terrific collective piece of urban history but it needs maintained.
“The spaces are underwhelming. The spaces are car and traffic dominated so there needs to be a shift in the way in which these spaces are laid out.
“The town needs to be far more people focused and pedestrian focused.”
Mr Ross added that Montrose had a lot of “terrific assets” which needed to be linked better.
He continued: “From the Basin to the beach, it’s a case of making those connections from west to east, from the train station to the historic core, through the Mid Links, to the beach.
“It’s an amazing sequence of spaces but the east-west connections aren’t strong enough or good enough. Hume Street and the approach across the A92 are not a good first impression.”
Developed by Angus Council with funding assistance from Scottish Government, Montrose Talks is led by experts from the fields of town planning, architecture, property development and community regeneration.
Rachel Green, Angus Council’s acting communities manager for Montrose, praised the response from people in the town.
She added: “The conversations that came out were around the High Street – issues like parking and traffic.
“In the High Street two-thirds is given over to cars and just one-third to pedestrians. A thought that came out of the process is that it could be nice to switch that round.
“There were also big conversations about making the journey from the train station to the town centre as pleasant as possible. Also that flow to the Mid Links then down to the beach.
“What we want to see is who was willing to come together again after the charrette to help take forward some of these recommendations.”
