Council to end lease of erosion-threatened car park

A local authority has decided not to renew its lease of a car park at a popular Moray beach due to the impact of climate change.

Moray Council said it was making the decision over the site at Lossiemouth West Beach due to rising sea levels and coastal erosion.

Experts expect the car park to be regularly under water by the end of the century and protecting it would cost about £750,000.

The council said its capital spending was limited to key areas like schools.

The council lease from the Pitgaveny Estate expires in January 2027 and it said technical assessments had confirmed that the site was increasingly at risk from coastal erosion, flooding and sea level rise.

By 2050, it is projected that the site will fall within the area of active coastal erosion, and by the end of the century, it is expected to be below the mean high water spring tide level.

The car park is sandwiched between Moray Golf Club and the Moray Firth shoreline.

The nearest public alternatives are several minutes' walk away on the other side of Lossiemouth town centre.

Marc Macrae, who chairs the council's economic development committee, said it fully acknowledged how valued the car park was by local residents, businesses and visitors.

He said talks would continue with groups including the Lossiemouth Community Development Trust, Lossiemouth Community Council and Moray Golf Club to find a way forward.

The community council said it was "utterly dismayed" by the news.

"This beach and car park are essential to our community, locals and visitors alike," it said.

"We will be meeting with Moray Council, elected members and other groups as a matter of urgency in the coming days.".

Chloe Sim took over The Beach Hut café near the site a few weeks ago.

"I was quite shocked that we had heard it from Facebook and not the council themselves," she said.

"We had no warning, no word, nothing - it was horrible."

She said she felt it would have a big impact on business and the wider area.

"Once that car park is gone it is going to get drastically worse," she said.

"I think they are really going to struggle to come down here and it is really going to affect the community."

Rising sea levels and increased intensity of storms are already having a damaging effect on Scotland's coastline.

Dozens of golf courses have reported impacts from coastal erosion while the important Neolithic village of Skara Brae in Orkney has been described as "extremely vulnerable."

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) says sea levels in Scotland have been rising by an average of 1.4 mm per year this century.

They have published updated maps showing large areas of coastal land which will now be vulnerable to flooding by 2080.

That includes the West Beach car park which has a "medium likelihood" of flooding.