Gardenstown road closed after concerns over cracking wall
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Engineers are inspecting a roadside wall in Gardenstown after cracks were discovered, which has forced the closure of the main road through the coastal village.
The problem was found on Monday afternoon and Aberdeenshire Council shut Main Street as a precaution.
It is understood heavy rain has damaged the wall and detailed inspections are being carried out on the wall today.
An Aberdeenshire Council spokesman said: "As a precaution, Aberdeenshire Council has closed Main Street, Gardenstown, following the discovery of new cracks in a roadside wall which are giving cause for concern.
"The emergency closure will allow more detailed inspections to be undertaken and to identify how best to stabilise the retaining wall in the short-term to enable the road to be reopened as soon as possible.
"There is currently no road access to the harbour area of the village.
"We will provide an update on the situation in due course."
In 2018, a landslip shut off the village and extensive work was undertaken to stabilise the area.
A Police Scotland spokesman confirmed the access road to lower Gardenstown will be closed to all vehicular traffic.
He added: "It will likely remain closed for much of Tuesday while work is carried out to assess and stabilise a retaining wall.
"Pedestrians can still access the area."
North East region Scottish Conservative MSP Peter Chapman said: "Local residents are unfortunately getting used to adverse weather wreaking havoc with their daily lives.
"The chaos caused just two years ago took a long time to fix.
"It falls to local councils or private landowners to spend vast sums to put right, but I think we need to approach this as a national issue.
"The SNP Government is spending money piecemeal on projects when a Scotland-wide strategy is needed.
"We can’t leave the prosperity of our towns and villages to chance and hope for mild winters."
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