Footfall in a north-east town has fallen despite Aberdeenshire Council’s efforts to promote its high street.
Work to regenerate Fraserburgh, which has been branded a “major service centre” by the local authority, has been running for the past two years, with the council laying out a plan of works to take the port to 2020.
But a new report to be discussed by area committees in the coming weeks has cast doubt on the effectiveness of existing policies.
A town centre “health check” carried out by the council has found that, despite efforts to bill Fraserburgh’s town centre as a desirable shopping location, people are turning away.
Councillors will learn that last year, pedestrian footfall decreased “significantly”, especially at the junction of High Street and Cross Street.
The report states: “The area has potential for high footfall because of the large number of units and its proximity to Saltoun Square, the bus station and the sea.
“However there are too many units vacant or rundown and Saltoun Square does not attract as many people as it could.
“Fraserburgh has the potential to attract far more pedestrians as it has done in previous years.”
The health check, which is a yearly exercise to determine the state of town centres across Aberdeenshire, does however offer suggestions which regeneration officers can implement to turn around Fraserburgh’s fortunes.
They include planting more flowers at Saltoun Square, off Broad Street, and caring for vacant retail units to prevent them becoming rundown or derelict.
“Poorly maintained architecture may make it difficult to attract new occupiers into the town,” the document adds.
The report on the town comes after the SNP administration of Aberdeenshire Council announced a fund of £400,000 to bring vacant properties back into use in Fraserburgh, Peterhead, Macduff and Banff.