More empty shops in Elgin than ever – but hope for future
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Elgin town centre has its highest number of empty shops since records began 14 years ago – but could soon see a brighter future.
There are currently 40 vacant units, up from 32 recorded in 2021.
In contrast the town’s Edgar Road, which includes two retail parks, has seen vacancies drop from seven to three since 2018, with Pure Gym as well as Chest Heart and Stroke recently opening up.
Forres has also seen a rise to 18 from a dozen back in 2021.
Buckie has 11, Lossiemouth five and Keith seven.
However, discussing the situation at yesterday’s council meeting, members felt the situation had begun to improve across Moray during the past year.
Sandy Keith (Elgin North, Labour) highlighted work to bring unoccupied buildings back into use, such as the Elgin South Street development at the former Junners site.
He added: “The Poundland building is also going to be an asset to the town.
“The reopening of traffic to North Street and the hoardings being taken down is going to help with the attractiveness of the town as well.
“This is a snapshot in time, and the regeneration going on will bring back some of its former glories.”
John Divers (Elgin South, Labour) felt previous planning decisions taken by councillors had negatively impacted the town centre.
He said: “A lot of this is our own making. We’ve allowed a lot of out-of-town building to go on in the past.
“It comes with the guise that there will be more jobs. But while there will be more jobs in those places, we’ve lost jobs on the High Street.
“There is a policy of town centre first, but that’s lost through the planning process.”
