Councillors in Fraserburgh have questioned the merits of Aberdeenshire Council’s attempts to regenerate the Broch.
The local authority has striven to transform the north-east community’s High Street for the better, but their efforts have been criticised by some members, who have highlighted the dearth of jobs in the town.
The regeneration strategy was scrutinised yesterday when councillors met for the December meeting of the Banff and Buchan area committee.
Chief among the critics’ concerns was the perceived lack of job creation in the town and wider area despite council officers having allocated an annual budget of £400,000 to try and address the problem.
John Cox, the committee’s chairman, said he was “very concerned” and called for a meeting to reevaluate the priorities of the scheme.
Mr Cox, who represents Banff, added that he was left “heartbroken” when youths at a local Job Centre told him they were all there because they wanted a job.
He said: “The economy has changed significantly.
“With what has been spent and what is still to be spent, we really need to refocus. We cannot afford to wait much longer.
“The prospects of jobs right now are nil. You just need to pick up a paper – hundreds of people are losing their jobs on a weekly basis. I am very, very concerned.”
Councillor Ian Tait added he was worried with delays in moving regeneration forward with the Super Saturday projects in Fraserburgh.
The monthly Saturday markets attract hundreds of visitors to the port’s town centre and have been running for the past two years, costing the local authority about £70,000.
He said: “There are concerns about the delays and worries whether the regeneration project is working to speed.
“It is a considerable sum of money. In order to justify that level of expenditure, I would like to know how many people it’s bringing in.”
And Troup councillor Hamish Partridge said the report on regeneration in Fraserburgh was “raising more questions than it’s answering”.
A spokeswoman for the council’s regeneration team said that some of the delays were “natural” and that it would continue to monitor its outcomes.