Aberdeenshire councillors are poised to sign off on nearly £30million of public spending in the region when they meet this week.
The local authority’s policy and resources committee will consider a package of items in the 2016-17 capital plan, including refurbishing public toilets and cutting the council’s carbon emissions.
In a report to the committee, Aberdeenshire Council’s director of business services, Ritchie Johnson, said: “The Capital Plan is an amalgam of a number of budget lines which include both individual projects and rolling programmes.
“The area committees have been consulted on this report and their comments will be reported verbally to the committee.”
The most expensive budget line in the report is for Aberdeenshire’s depots with councillors expected to agree a further £8million of funding across the region to upgrade the council’s operational facilities.
This includes spending £760,000 on improving the West Shore site in Fraserburgh, and £825,000 to overhaul a depot at Laurencekirk.
Money has also been earmarked to slash the authority’s carbon emissions. Earlier this year, it was revealed that Aberdeenshire is falling significantly behind its carbon target and councillors are set to spend £500,000 installing solar panels on schools in the north-east as early as March, 2017.
Elsewhere, public toilets and the council’s IT systems are in line for upgrades and improvements.
The policy and resources committee – which is chaired by council co-leaders Richard Thomson and Martin Kitts-Hayes – will meet at Woodhill House on Thursday morning to discuss the plan.
A number of prominent capital projects in the region are also on the agenda for discussion, but will be heard in private as the decisions are “commercially sensitive”.
These include the demolition contract for the former Ellon, Alford and Laurencekirk Academy buildings, and a discussion on the installation of a new all-weather pitch at Kemnay Academy.
