Aberdeen City Council has launched a new public consultation on a review of the City Centre Masterplan and their beach, asking people to take into consideration how their views on the areas have changed due to coronavirus.

The consultation asks people to allocate points to indicate how important a potential improvement is. The specific areas for the city centre include Union Street, the west end, Schoolhill/Upperkirkgate/Belmont Street, and the Castlegate. People are asked to consider potential improvement projects in these areas and the expected impact of these is also given. For the beach, people are asked to consider sports and leisure activities, public spaces including connection to the city centre, and the Beach Ballroom.

The consultation comes after the CCMP review was agreed at city growth and resources committee last month. The City Centre Masterplan, which is designed to invigorate the area over 25 years with both public and private investment, was first approved in 2015 and there have been a number of achievements to date including the completion of Aberdeen Art Gallery, the Music Hall, Marischal Square, and Broad Street.

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Over the coming months, there will be completion of Provost Skene's House and the regeneration of Union Terrace Gardens.

Aberdeen City Council City Centre Masterplan spokesperson Councillor Marie Boulton said: "We are committed to ensuring that our city centre and beach are places that the people of Aberdeen are proud of and enjoy spending time in. We also want to make sure our city and beach front are both attractive and enjoyable places for people to visit and invest in.

"It is important to reflect on what we have achieved and what we still have to do but we must also consider what we have learned over the past year - one important task is to consider how our city can be suitable for all regardless of your mobility or age.

"I'd encourage everyone to take part in this consultation and it's vitally important we understand what the public's priorities are as part of the review into the City Centre Masterplan and the beach."

People taking part in the online consultation are asked to consider that everyone has developed a better understanding of the important role that good quality public spaces can have to supporting and improving health and wellbeing. This was seen by the number of people visiting areas of the city such as the beach during the easing of lockdown restrictions.

The consultation also adds that Aberdeen City Council had to respond to challenges presented by Covid-19 such as providing safe spaces for pedestrian movement and access to local businesses, e.g. pedestrianisation of parts of Union Street as part of Spaces for People.

The public consultation is available here and ends on 2 July. Further inquiries can be made through contacting [email protected].