Lossiemouth Community Development Trust reveals new five year plan for Jewel of Moray
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LOSSIEMOUTH works well together.
That's the ongoing conclusion as the town's development trust publishes its new five year plan.
The main feature of the new plan includes a community takeover and redevelopment of Station Park.
Many other community groups, all doing great work in the town, are now working in partnership with the trust and others.
Other goals of the new five year plan - which was on display last Saturday at an open event in Lossiemouth Town Hall - include:
- Expansion of the Seafest festival.
- Completion of a new skate park.
- Complete a cyclepath from Lossie to Hopeman.
- Establish a men’s shed in suitable premises.
- Set up a steering group to create a community garden.
- Improve public toilet facilities.
The construction of a new pedestrian bridge this summer to the east beach is a key highlight from the first five year plan.
The fresh five year plan follows a detailed consultation with people in Lossiemouth last year.
Alan MacDonald, chairman of the development trust, said: “The key factor is that groups are prepared to work together and by working together we can get so much more done and be more effective.
“We all successful in our own way and have all managed to produce good results for projects. If we can pool all our resources together we can go from strength to strength.”
The headline project over the next five years will be a community asset transfer of Station Park.
“That is going to be a major project. An opportunity is there, especially with the new bridge going in next to the esplanade. All of that area could be developed along to Station Park and have something meaningful in Station Park.”
Mr MacDonald said he is impressed with the design and construction of the bridge so far.
“The estimates of how much the town has lost have been pretty significant, around £1.5 million in tourism cash. It will be a massive boost, especially for those shops along the front.”
Saturday’s exhibition and coffee morning was designed to let the public view the proposals in the five year plan, with artwork produced by Moray Council.
Donna Milne, vice chairwoman of the trust and the chairwoman of Seafest, led the sub committee which compiled the new plan.
She said: “For Seafest we are looking to let everybody know what is happening. The bridge should be a big help for the businesses who have lost so much money.”
Seafest ran in a scaled-back format last year, for the first time in two years, but will return in full from August 8-16 this year, hopefully without any covid restrictions.
Mrs Milne founded the development trust in 2014, the same year the first Seafest was held, with proceeds from Seafest funding the trust in the early years.
“A men’s shed is something that has been asked for a lot. The Station Park is a big one and we have loads of ideas. We are looking to take over Station Park and regenerate it.
“The community has come up with ideas for things like splash pools, which will all take money and we will look to put in a temporary office down there until everything is done.”
Fiona Birse is the development officer for the town.
She said: “It is very exciting. This is all new and innovative and hopefully we can pull it off.
“We are carrying on projects from our previous five year plan. The skate park is about to go for planning permission.
“We need a building so we can get the men’s shed up and going.Station Park will be our big project. We already have a note of interest in for a community asset transfer. We will go for a full business plan soon.”
With a new bridge set to open in May, Mrs Birse said that will give the town a boost.
“It shows that when the trust says they are going to do something, they will do it. Seafest has been very successful, and these are both projects that have come out of the trust.
“It is important we work in partnership with Lossiemouth Business Association and the community council to make things happen. A lot of groups in Lossiemouth have joined the trust through memorandas of understanding, so the tourism group, which is new, has joined the trust, the Millennium Association, the heritage group and cycle path. We can all work together to make things happen.
“There will always be different groups doing different things but one of the things that brough us together was covid. The trust raised the funds and community council and 2-3 group, and all the volunteers in the churches delivered covid parcels.”
Alison Read and Alison Taylor are both members of the tourism sub group, which is part of the business association, which has around 80 members.
Last year tourism and hospitality businesses got together, with support from Moray Speyside, to form a tourism sub group locally.
Mrs Read said: “The first thing we did last year was we got some funding from the Scotland Loves Local fund and got the “Fine Day out” tourism brochure.
Last year the group got £16,000 from VisitScotland to create a Visit Lossiemouth campaign, which has included Instagram and Facebook platforms, and the development of a new website for the town.
Travel writer Kay Gillespie has also visited the town.
The campaign will look to target day and weekend visitors to the town from all over Scotland and the UK.
“We really want to pick up footfall outwith the main summer season. We want to bring people here for a long weekend and get as much out of that as they can.
Mrs Taylor added: “We have a bed and breakfast in the town and we have had a lot of people coming up from the central belt, Aberdeen and up north as well. With the bridge coming this summer we are expecting a huge influx.”
The Lossiemouth Community Development Trust will hold its annual general meeting on Monday, March 7 at 7pm in the Marine Park Pavilion.
