Sagging shopper numbers in Lossiemouth are expected to soar skywards as the town’s RAF station is expanded.
The coastal spot is bracing itself for the arrival of hundreds more personnel over the coming years, as the airfield becomes home to a new fleet of P-8 Poseidon spy planes.
While military top brass have hailed the benefits the new deployment will bring the UK’s defence capabilities, locals are hopeful that incoming servicemen will also boost town centre trade.
Lossiemouth has eight empty shopping units in its busiest areas, and footfall has dropped along Queen Street since last year.
The town has a vacancy rate of 15.69% – the Scottish average is 10%.
Heldon and Laich councillor, John Cowe, admitted the figures were worrying.
But he urged residents to keep in mind the turnaround that the forthcoming changes at RAF Lossiemouth will bring the town.
He said: “We are talking about 400 personnel with the Poseidons, and then maybe 100 more with at least one incoming Typhoon squadron.
“You then have to take into account their spouses and children, and we are talking about roughly 1,500 people coming to work in Lossiemouth.
“It’s inevitable that will have a knock-on effect on trade in the town, as these people will support the local shops.
“There are 278 homes going up in the Sunbank area too, so it’s important to remember that Lossie is undergoing some positive change at the moment. ”
He added that the expansion of the military base would also benefit other towns and villages across Moray.
Mr Cowe, who is the chairman of Moray Council’s economic development committee, spoke out after a series of “health checks” on the region’s town centre’s yielded grim results.
The studies discovered footfall figures in decline across the area’s larger towns and villages, and abandoned shopfronts in excess of the national average.
Moray Council officers have launched plans to combat plummeting visitor numbers in the heart of Elgin by encouraging more landlords to let out space above shops.
The authority’s head of developmental services, Jim Grant, said the move would help stimulate the town.
He added: “That would produce more footfall, and raise the profile and amenity value of the High Street too.
“Having vacant premises above shops doesn’t do anything for us.”