Moray Council has voted to keep the proposed Elgin western link road in its new Local Development Plan.

Last month, the Council's Planning and Regulatory Services Committee felt that reference to the project should be removed from the plan, but that decision was found to be contrary to the local authority's Economic Development and Infrastructure Service Committee which argued that the western link road was a vital component for the future economic development for the area.

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At a meeting on Wednesday, the Council agreed to include the plans.

The proposed road would link Edgar Road with the A96 on the western outskirts of Elgin, plus provide a new vehicular crossing over the Inverness-Aberdeen railway line.

Council Leader Allan Wright said economic development had been accorded the council's highest priority and the commitment to the western link road had been restated in the local plan in 2008 and needed to be restated once more in the new plan.

He added: "Not to do so is effectively to kill off the western link road and destroy this council's growing reputation as a council of ambition and a council that delivers.

"Not to do so destroys the credibility of our claim that economic development is the top priority of this council and its partners.

"If this project is not included in the emerging local plan, then to all intents and purposes it is dead."

(JP/CD)