Aberdeen Council cannot say when controversial physical distancing measures temporarily imposed on city streets will be relaxed or removed.
Neighbouring Aberdeenshire Council earlier this week announced an exit strategy for its Spaces For People work in Banchory, Ellon, Fraserburgh, Inverurie, Peterhead and Stonehaven.
The local authority announced the traffic interventions – including one-way systems, parking bans and widened pavements – would be scaled back if the rate of new Covid-19 cases in Grampian remained below 3.6 per 100,000 people for a full week.
Aberdeenshire Council also confirmed the work – which has been heavily criticised by some business owners – could be removed completely when Scotland moves to phase four of lockdown relaxation.
In Aberdeen, a £1.76 million Scottish Government grant has been used to pedestrianise a section of Union Street, introduce bike lanes at the beach and overhaul roads in Rosemount, George Street, the city centre and elsewhere.
But, when asked if the city would follow Aberdeenshire’s example in mapping out the exit plan, council transport spokeswoman Sandra Macdonald admitted: “At the moment we don’t have a strategy of that nature.
“We are very mindful the virus is still very much around and we have not been out of our local restrictions for too long. It’s early days.
“We are mindful these are temporary measures and once we have a handle on the disease, we will look at that and make those decisions.
“But that’s for the future.”
But last night the leader of the council’s SNP group, Alex Nicoll criticised the way the local authority had gone about the project.
He said: “These measures should have been decided by elected members and while some of the Spaces For People work has been very successful in helping businesses to operate and allowing people to physically distance, others are totally unpopular and must be reviewed.
“It is important our communities feel safe but people must understand that these decisions have been driven purely by the administration, with little to no scrutiny at all.”
