More than £1.5million has been spent breathing new life into a Moray holiday park looking to leave a series of scandals behind.
Richmond Wight Estates – owners of Silversands Holiday Park at Covesea in Lossiemouth and Riverview at Forres – has transformed the fortunes of the parks.
The firm is just weeks away from opening new leisure facilities at Silversands, providing a heated indoor swimming pool, steam room and spa bath.
Silversands currently employs 30 local staff and has plans to recruit 15 more in the coming months.
The new facility has helped Silversands an AA five star rating under Richmond’s ownership in less than a year – a remarkable turnaround since the park was mired in a fraud scandal.
Neale Rothera was spared jail in 2012 despite duping seven people from the park out of £53,500.
Richmond Wight has since taken over the park, and the firm’s Danny McInnes believes the site has huge potential.
“Delivering the new leisure facility to the residents and holidaymakers at Silversands has been of paramount importance to the firm since it acquired the park,” he said.
“We are delighted to announce that this fantastic new leisure facility is nearly finished.
“Other owners of this park over a period of fifteen years have promised a new pool and so on but have never actually delivered anything at all.
“Not only are we delivering a fabulous heated pool but we are putting the icing on the cake with the other attractions – the steam room and spa and the amazing state of the art gym.
“These are facilities befitting a five star establishment and are nothing less than our owners and visitors deserve.
“The new leisure centre will give us unbeatable appeal, strengthening our place as an important local employer, promoting Moray to a wide audience.
“We have lots of future improvements planned here as well as Riverview and there is a great deal of potential in both locations.”