A Peterhead trader who has taken it upon himself to tidy the streets around his shop believes more should be done to bring people into the town centre.
Gilbert Burnett, owner of Buchan Aquatics, has spoken out after spending the weekend pulling unsightly weeds from Broad Street and the Reform Monument.
The shopkeeper posted “before and after” photographs on the internet, showing the difference in the streets and claiming “a lot of the town is the same”.
He accused Rediscover Peterhead, the group which runs the local Business Improvement District (Bid), of failing to adequately maintain or promote the town centre.
Mr Burnett said: “I do feel that the Bid has got the potential to be an asset to the town centre but there isn’t much evidence to suggest that it has been so far.”
He bemoaned the fact that recent Scottish Week celebrations took place outside the heart of the town.
Mr Burnett added: “Scottish Week is meant to improve footfall within the town centre, to help boost trade for businesses.
“But it has definitely not had a positive impact, in fact it’s the complete opposite in my shop along with a lot of others.
“They had the crowning of Buchan Queen at the Links, for example. Next year, they should give more thought to bringing people into the centre.”
Rediscover Peterhead chairman, John Pascoe, encouraged businesses concerned about the streets to “do their bit” by maintaining their premises and keeping the streets tidy.
He said: “We would also encourage any business to let us know if there are persistent problems and we can incorporate tackling them into the ongoing Clean Up Peterhead initiative.
“The next phase of pavement cleaning is due to commence in early August to tackle cleaning issues that go beyond what the council are obligated to carry out.”
Scottish Week committee chairwoman, Karen Day, said the crowning was not held in Drummers Corner due to landing space needed for the RAF Falcon team who were planned to parachute in for the occasion.
She said: “We had buses to and from the town centre to the Links for that event.
“And we had many things going on in the centre – like Taste of Peterhead in an empty shop and the parade going through the town.
“We sold 3,000 programmes, which had a town centre shop window display competition.
“We wanted to utilise all of the areas of the town and also paid the pipers more on crowning day to perform in the centre before coming to the Links.”
