Restrictions could soon come into force at an Aberdeenshire shopping centre after its expansion gave way to parking chaos.
Yesterday, one councillor said the changes to the Westhill Shopping Centre car park could prove dangerous and feared it is being used as an unofficial “park and ride”.
Recently, there was an expansion to the popular spot to include several new outlets including a Costa Coffee and a Home Bargains store.
This also brought changes to the layout of the car park which local councillor Ron McKail said is an “accident waiting to happen”.
He said the loss of the one-way system which was in place at Westhill until recently is causing traffic to pile up onto the busy old Skene Road.
However, Orchard Street – the company which manages the car park – said an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system could soon be established.
This would limit the amount of time a car can remain at the site.
Conservative councillor, Mr McKail, said a growing number of local residents had contacted him regarding the issues at the shopping centre.
He said: “When they started developing the car park, they increased the number of car parking spaces. What we used to have were arrows on the road surface and cars travelled in the same direction and you knew which direction to go.
“That is the big issue – the fact they have got vehicles reversing out into narrow lanes with people going in both directions. Previously, we had direction signs.
“It is not just vehicles, it is also affecting pedestrians. The second problem, which is a concern reported to me frequently, is that people can’t find a parking space because people use the car park as a park and ride.
“If the problems are not solved, not only will we have a problem in the car park, the vehicles will start stacking up on Old Skene Road.”
However, he added the expansion had “increased the footfall at the centre”.
A spokeswoman for Orchard Street said: “We can confirm that the installation of an Automatic Number Plate Recognition system at Westhill Shopping Centre is under consideration in order to address issues of capacity at the centre’s car park, with the best interests of both retailers and customers in mind.”
