Stonehaven Beach Front Improvements and Belmont Brae One Way Schemes

Following on from the Stonehaven Traffic Management review which asked the general public their views and aspiration on the current road network within Stonehaven, a number of comments were raised in relation to parking, road allocation and pedestrian space. Please see full report attached titled 'STMR Feedback Analysis Report'. Stonehaven Traffic Management Review key findings.

Following on from this consultation, two schemes have been designed by Aberdeenshire Councils Road teams and shared with their internal Road Standards Groups. Aberdeenshire Council are now in a position to share these project designs with you before comments are sought from the general public.

The two schemes in question are:

1) Stonehaven Beach Front Improvements.

The beach front is a popular location for visitors. During the pandemic, the footway outside the shops were widened under the Spaces for people project. This gave a temporary increase in space to pedestrians, by use of barriers along the Promenade. The review asked the public their opinion on this scheme. 77% of responses were in favour of seeing the footway widened permanently, 67% felt this had road safety benefits for pedestrians using the area, while 53% were against complete predestination of the area. Therefore several designs have been considered for this area, the final design, which we are sharing with you now, takes on board comments in relation to space for pedestrians and vehicles. The temporary arrangement has led to no current concerns in traffic management. This scheme also addresses concerns over parking in the area, with some spaces being lost to the increase in footway and some informal parking creating difficulties for motorhomes accessing the caravan park. More formal parking will be put in place to provide better traffic management of this area. Please see design attached titled 'Stonehaven Beach Front - Footway Improvements - Site Plan'.

2) Belmont Brae One Way

The review noted road safety concerns on Belmont Brae. This road and pavements are narrow with poor visibility in places. The exit from this road on to the B979 is proven to be a safety concern for drivers who struggle to see vehicles who are exiting the Minerallwell Road junction. The scheme designed for this is to create a one-way street to provide increased space for vehicles and pedestrians and as well as eliminating existing concerns on to the B979. Please see design attached titled 'Belmont Brae One Way - North Footpath - Site Plan'

Please find attached survey which provides some questions in relation to these designs.