A bid to expand the car park at a historic place of worship in Moray has been given backing by the council.
Pluscarden Abbey wants to create new facilities to provide a better welcome for visitors to the ancient monastery.
And now, the local authority has pledged to support its bid to the Scottish Government’s rural tourism infrastructure fund in order to help pay for the improvements.
Plans have been drawn up to convert one of the abbey’s neighbouring fields into space for 30 cars and two coaches with new toilets and picnic tables.
The current car park only has space for eight, cars leading to instances where the abbey’s grounds have become “swamped” with visitors.
It is estimated about 15,000 people currently visit the 13th-century monastery every year. However, that total is expected to increase in the future.
Speyside Glenlivet councillor Derek Ross queried whether a bid to the fund could be made to support rural public toilets.
Reni Milburn, the council’s principal officer for economic development, said: “The fund was made available to principally help the islands where infrastructure couldn’t cope.
“It is available for capital projects, so could pay for new toilets, but it is not able to run existing facilities.”
