Controversial plans to scrap free short-stay parking across Aberdeenshire have taken a major step forward.
Motorists face a 50p charge for the first hour in pay and display car parks, and a diminishing hourly rate for longer periods.
The move was agreed by the full Aberdeenshire Council yesterday after it was referred by the infrastructure services committee at the end of last year.
Councillors deferred a decision in November due to the high levels of opposition from some members.
The issue will now have to go back to infrastructure services to be rubber stamped.
Aberdeenshire Council has more than 100 car parks, only 24 of which have charges at present.
Free periods were introduced in 2014, leading to more use, but the council is making a loss of more than £200,000.
An amendment was tabled by the SNP and Labour opposition at Thursday’s meeting, calling for the free period to be retained and the cost spread by increasing other tariffs throughout the day.
However, the proposal was rejected by 37 voted to 25, with one abstention.
Stonehaven Business Association’s Ian Philip, who spoke at the meeting, said the end of free parking periods would spell disaster for independent businesses.
He said: “We are very emotive about our town and we try and protect everyone that comes in by making it as easy as possible to them to come in and access what we have to offer.
“Anything that’s shown to have a negative impact does not have our support, we don’t think the council has measured the risk properly.”
Mearns SNP councillor Leigh Wilson voted to maintain free parking and expressed his regret at the council decision.
He said lessons had not been learned from Angus where the introduction of charges has been blamed for disastrous declines in takings and virtually empty car parks during the working week.
“If the council administration were somehow unaware of these consequences, that would be one thing; I have already warned them of these consequences, however, and I have also drawn attention to the catastrophic situation in Angus where people are deserting car parks like snow off a dyke,” he said.
“There was a sensible alternative to this proposal which would have maintained the free period and I’m disappointed the administration has rejected this proposal.
“Yes, I agree we shouldn’t be subsidising car parks at a time when we have less money to spend, but there is also a wider issue here with regards to economic development and we can only maximise this if we are encouraging people to visit our towns.”
Councillor Peter Argyle, chairman of the infrastructure services committee, said the council had no choice but to make the move.
He said: “We could take that £211,000 and put it into other areas, whether that’s education, children’s social care, but instead we are using it to stop motorists from paying 50p.
“I don’t think that this is our greatest priority as a council and nor do I think it ever should be.”
