Ballot papers have been dispatched and about 420 businesses in the town centre are currently deciding the fate of Elgin Bid.
Every five years the organisation has to go back to firms, which ultimately bankroll the organisation, to see whether they want it to continue.
After being established in 2010, businesses backed Bid to continue in both 2015 and 2020 votes.
Now firms are going back to the ballot box once again to decide whether they want to keep funding projects through a levy – ranging from £60 a year for the smallest businesses to £9,670 for the largest.
The result will decide the future of the High Street and town centre for the coming years at a time huge regeneration projects are underway and the future of the St Giles Centre remains in doubt.
Moray Council has already decided to abstain in the process with councillors deciding the result should be entirely up to commercial businesses.
The Press and Journal spoke to Elgin Bid manager Angela Norrie about what is at risk if the group is not renewed for another five years.
Could Christmas really be cancelled in Elgin?
Thousands pack the town centre for the annual festive lights switch-on in Elgin every year.
Elgin Bid organises the bash and all of the Christmas lights that brighten the High Street, even the huge tree that stands on the Plainstones.
Without any of them, the festive season could look very different for shoppers and businesses getting ready for the big day.
Mrs Norrie said: “Christmas is the biggest joy for everybody, it’s about bringing people together and spreading that joy.
“If Elgin Bid aren’t voted through this year there will be no joy, there will be no lights, there will be no tree, there will be no market, there won’t be any entertainment.
“I fully believe that means there won’t be the same footfall in the town centre.
“When I started this job I didn’t realise how much we did, I’ll admit that. We have a three-year entertainment licence to allow us to hold events, we hold the insurance and we have an events team to support us and make sure it all comes together.”
Elgin Bid’s fight against town centre gulls
Elgin Bid is currently in its fifth year of funding specialist contractors to deploy tactics to discourage gulls from settling in the town centre.
Lasers, hawks, dogs and drones have all been used alongside four sonic scarers to try and protect shoppers from being divebombed while keeping the High Street and surrounding area clean.
Elgin Bid has also teamed up with similar groups across the north to lobby NatureScot about the growing worries from shoppers, businesses and residents.
Mrs Norrie said: “We’re actually already in the third phase of our gull management. We’ve spent in the region of £48,000 over the last five years.
“So we’ve done a lot of work, but we’re not even nearly finished. It takes seven years of consistent work to move the first lot of gulls, so you have to keep at it.
“It could go back to square one where we have nothing. The gulls are already mating at the moment, which is quite a bit ahead of usual, which is a massive concern.
“They’re getting bigger, they’re staying longer and they’re definitely getting smarter.
“We’ve got a new initiative this year as well where we will be working with landlords, making sure roofs are kept clean.
“It’s a legal requirement for landlords and NatureScot could take it further with them if they don’t do it. So we’re trying to be hot off on it.”
Could Elgin town centre become overwhelmed with rubbish?
Untidy streets and pavements is one of the most common complaints on social media about Elgin town centre.
There are frequent calls for the area and specific buildings to be given a deep clean.
The requests have been so common that business people joined a collective clean-up of the High Street last year.
Meanwhile, every week Elgin Bid’s street ambassadors are already collecting 20 bags of rubbish every week.
Mrs Norrie said: “Our street ambassadors are out five days a week collecting rubbish.
“Roughly, we taking in 20 bags of rubbish a week.
“Christmas and New Year are a good example, when we stopped for two weeks. When we came back it was horrendous, there were 60 to 80 bags and that’s just in the High Street and our closes.
“It’s vapes, cans, some drug paraphernalia as well, abandoned cones, trolleys, bikes. No treasure yet, but there’s always a chance.
“It’s more important coming into the gull season. They can even lift the vapes, which is a big concern for us when they drop them.”
St Giles Centre response
Elgin Bid’s renewal ballot comes less than two months since the sudden closure of the St Giles Centre.
The development has left one of the largest buildings on the High Street empty while turning national chains away from the town.
Mrs Norrie believes the business community in Elgin town centre needs a collective to be heard while the area is going through a period of change.
She said: “Elgin is at a crucial point. On the one hand we have construction happening, which is going to be for a number of years.
“You look at that and see it happening, but on the other hand you have the St Giles Centre which is now an empty site we have lost.
“We’ve also lost businesses. Take Gordon and MacPhail as an example, they’ve moved out of the town centre district area.
“We would previously have had the cathedral, Johnstons of Elgin and then come up the town for Gordon and MacPhail, and that would link together that whole tourism experience.
“There’s a bit of a disconnect there now. There’s a lot of potential there with Grant Lodge and other things coming up, I think that’s fantastic.
“We need to know how we’re going to take a collective ownership of that though and advertise it together as a community.”
Business grants to help Elgin firms grow
Every Elgin business in the town centre area, whether they pay just £60 a year or nearly £2,000, are entitled to a £500 support grant every year.
The cash has helped firms pay for new signage, upgraded flooring, replacement doors among many other things.
Mrs Norrie said: “These have been growing rapidly. Just a couple of weeks ago we authorised another £3,000 in grants.
“If you time it right with one now, and then again in April, businesses can get £1,000 in a short space of time, which is huge for some.
“It’s all about what the business needs. One thing came from an environmental health inspection, everyone was going to have to get in grease traps, which we were able to help with the costs of.
“When concerns about anti-social behaviour were starting to be raised we introduced one-off £200 grants to improve security, so we very much work with businesses on what they need the most.”
Read more from Elgin
- How the St Giles Centre could be key to winning the fight against retail parks: Experts on what the future holds for Elgin town centre
- Five years after listed Elgin High Street building was demolished: Will it ever be rebuilt?
- How Moray Leisure Centre has recovered from brink of closure to be plotting HUGE expansion
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