Moray Town Centre Summit, organised by Moray Chamber, attracts good turnout as Forum to be created
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MORE than 70 Moray town centre stakeholders attended a bumper Moray Town Centre Summit at Elgin Town Hall on Thursday.
The aim of the meeting was to bring already-established groups together and discuss how to improve the future prospects of high streets around Moray.
A new 'forum' is set to be created in the aftermath of the summit, with Moray Chamber – who hosted the event – to take the lead on that front.
The Chamber's CEO Sarah Medcraf said: "We had more than 70 people register to come along and that shows the commitment that people have to making change.
"The purpose of the day was to establish that everybody was wanting to pull in the same direction.
"There are already great groups out there but we are strong than the sum of our parts – so how do we pull them together?
"We are aiming to take a leading role in creating a forum and bringing things together that already exist."
The day very much had a Moray-wide emphasis, with businesses and charities from towns across the region in attendance, but there was also a realisation that the majority of the issues faced are national ones.
A talk from Midsteeple Quarter's Scott Mackay gave background into how Dumfries improved its town centre, for example.
Ewen Mackintosh, Moray Chamber vice chairman and Gordon and MacPhail managing director, added: "Everyone knows that high streets have challenges, but a lot of positivity came through.
"We want to take what's really good in Forres and make that work in Elgin. None of these towns are competing with each other.
"Nobody is going to come here and spend two weeks only in Elgin – they'll want to get out and about.
"We all win by offering a vibrant and welcoming town centre because people will move around."
Empty units on high streets were a talking point – and Moray Council's strategic planning and development manager Gary Templeton believes there is progress that can be made there.
"There was a real focus on vacant and derelict properties and bringing those back in," he added.
"We have got pockets of funding and we are going to meet up with community groups and discuss how to best use it."
More details are on the creation of a forum are set to come in the next few weeks.
