Plans to repair a landslip-hit path have stalled – because no one knows who owns it.
A section of the coastal trail at Fraserburgh’s Broadsea was washed away during a storm earlier this year.
Aberdeenshire Council has already drawn-up plans to reinstate it and bolster is defences.
But the local authority is reluctant to proceed with the work until it establishes who owns the affected stretch of shore.
The council’s Banff and Buchan area manager, Margaret-Jane Cardno, said coastal protection teams were still trying to find out who owned the ground.
The delay to the work could affect two local visitor attractions – the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses and Fraserburgh Heritage Centre.
The route affected by the landslip is used by walkers to take in the sights along the Fraserburgh coastline and leads directly to the two museums.
The only alternative walking routes takes people through industrial sites.
Brian Topping, the chairman of the town’s safety group and local councillor, said he was “concerned” that the path would not be repaired in the immediate future.
“Surely there is a way – if that is working with the person who owns it – to restore the path,” he said.
Stephen Archer, the council’s director of infrastructure services, has previously told councillors that the local authority was not “responsible” for the maintenance of the path.
He added: “The flooding and coastal protection section did request signs and barriers to close the path when the slip occurred and also placed some sandbags across the dropped kerb access to prevent water flowing over the path.”
