Buckie councillor demands Moray Council “acts fast” in wake of Elgin St Giles Centre closure shock
A local councillor has called for Moray Council to do ‘all it can’ to save St Giles shopping centre in Elgin.
Councillor Neil McLennan (Buckie, Independent) made the plea after the shock announcement last week that the centre would be shutting its doors for the last time on January 20.
He said: ”I have criticised the [Moray Council] Conservative administration before for its lack of vision for Moray.
“Now is a chance to show ambition and leadership for our area.
”St Giles is right in the centre of Elgin and it’s vital swift action is taken to save jobs, the economy and our thriving area. Moray Council should now look to purchase the site. The people of Moray would expect no less from its council.”
He went to state that there was an opportunity to turn around what, at first glance, seems a grim situation.
He continued: “We only have to look at other ambitious towns and cities for examples.
“Edinburgh’s newly reopened St James’ Quarter is thriving. Aberdeen’s Union Square and Marischal Square are bustling and contributing to economic and social vibrancy of those areas. All funding streams must be looked at, including partnerships approaches.
“The administration must now act to look at where they might fund from between possible Common Good, partnership funding and Scottish and UK government funding streams. MPs and MSPs also need to get right behind this, and fast.
”There are so many opportunities at St Giles between existing retail stores as well as health and wellbeing hubs, food and drink sites; and threaded through it all education and training opportunities. Why can we not have training restaurants, shops, wellbeing services and innovative crowd-pullers such as Escape Rooms and leisure attractions - and all right in the centre of our area?
”It will be interesting to see what innovative proposals come forward from those in administration. After all, some allowed three quarters of a million pounds of public money to go unpaid. And so are they willing to do something positive and with ambition for presumably the same aims - saving jobs and ensuring an iconic hub remains alive and powering economic and social stability and success?”
