An extra £2.5million is to be invested in Aberdeen's roads this year as a result of significant savings being made in the renovation of Marischal College.

Members of the city council's Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure Committee unanimously backed convener Councillor Kate Dean's motion to divert savings from the project to turn Marischal College into the council's new corporate headquarters to improve the roads infrastructure.

Many city roads were badly affected by Scotland's most severe winter in 50 years and the council has already injected an extra £500,000 into carriageway and pothole repair work, which is continuing city-wide.

The extra £2.5million will be used to repair and upgrade roads, drainage, footpaths and street-lighting across Aberdeen.

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Councillor Dean said: "This is really good news. This extra injection of cash will make a difference to the condition of the city's roads, particularly those which were badly damaged during the very harsh winter.

"Council staff face a mammoth task to patch and repair roads and they should be commended for their dedication and the great effort they are putting into the considerable job.

"This extra investment will help us to repairing and improving the quality of Aberdeen's roads and I am delighted that committee members backed me on this, as it will benefit everyone in the city."

Vice-convener Callum McCaig added: "This is good news. The extra money we have identified will go some way to addressing the problems we have. It will not happen overnight, but it will happen and the improvements will be noticeable."

Council leader John Stewart, who chairs the Marischal College Project Board said: "I'm very pleased that the Marischal College scheme has been sufficiently well-managed that we can reduce the cost of the project by £2.5million and that we are able to use that money to mitigate the effects of the worst winter seen here for many years."

About 75% of the money will be used for road and associated drainage repairs. The remainder will be split between footpath, drainage and street-lighting works.

At its board meeting last week, Nestrans agreed to put £838,000 into roads maintenance across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.

(GK)