Pessimism never won any battle and these words, first uttered by army general and former US president Dwight Eisenhower, are my mantra for 2023.
And if you’re reading this from an AB postcode, I want it to be your mantra too.
Put on your positive pants. Embrace change and look forward, not back.
Last year, like 2021 and 2020 before it, was rotten for many businesses in this region.
But this year, with the right mindset, I think we can make positive change happen.
There are a number of challenges the chamber is laser-focused on this year. The first, is helping to secure a prosperous future for Union Street.
We need a new narrative for our city centre, one which focuses on its rich history and tells the story of its renewal and renaissance.
Endlessly harping on about how “it’s nae fit it used to be” will get us nowhere. It isn’t what it used to be because the world has changed.
Focus on the future
The street is home to nearly two miles of ground floor units. You couldn’t get two miles of retail in Dubai in 2023, let alone Aberdeen, so let’s focus our energy on what the street can be, rather than what it was.
Yes, there are a lot of empty units – 111 out of 461 at the last count – but with a targeted business development approach, we can repopulate it.
Alongside Aberdeen Inspired and other partners, the chamber has been working on building a coalition which will take a leading role in attracting new businesses to the street.
Endlessly harping on about how “it’s nae fit it used to be” will get us nowhere.”
Some people will say it can’t be done. But from the autumn of its retail days, the seeds have been sown for a new spring in the form of Fresh Start Relief.
In most cases when a vacant property is brought back into use it is eligible for Fresh Start Relief.
This provides eligible businesses 100% relief on their rates for up to the first year of trading.
According to Aberdeen City Council, of the 111 empty units on Union Street, 107 meet these criteria.
Of the 47 ground floor units, all but two would be eligible for Fresh Start relief, potentially offering a major boost to reoccupation plans.
So, let’s confidently tell the story of the regeneration under way in our city centre.
We have more than £60 million being poured into improvements to Union Terrace Gardens and the new international market.
City centre’s ‘compelling case’
If landlords play ball, any new occupier could potentially have a year rent and rates free.
And if we package this up and sell it in the right way, along with statistics which back up the spending power of this prosperous region, I think a compelling case can be made to any business looking for a new location.
Another challenge the chamber will – again – be dedicating itself to in 2023 is securing a more reasoned debate about the future of oil and gas in our energy mix.
This leads me to another Eisenhower quote: “The world moves, and ideas that were once good are not always good.”
Given this country already imports 38% of its energy (at a greater environmental cost), your presumption against new North Sea exploration has been met with compete disbelief in the North-east of Scotland. Reverse this damaging, job-destroying position before it is too late. https://t.co/eYQoM124d6
— Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce (@chambertalk) January 10, 2023
The world moved after COP26 in Glasgow, which led to our first minister surprising her parliamentary colleagues by announcing her opposition to further oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.
She has since doubled down on this position, and moved it into government policy, which is quite staggering for a government which was in support of maximising economic recovery when it came into power.
Seen through the prism of the climate crisis, you can understand why Nicola Sturgeon wants to prioritise green energy investment.
Nobody is in denial about the need to cut emissions, however, in opposing new hydrocarbons during the energy transition she continues to overlook how the world has moved again since COP26.
The war in Ukraine has brought into sharp focus the fragility of world markets and the fault lines of globalisation.
It has also, for the first time since the 1970s, seen genuine concerns raised about our energy security as a nation.
Holyrood energy policy makes ‘little economic sense’
Our oil and gas production has already more than halved over the past 20 years. In that same period, the amount of energy generated from renewable sources has risen, but at a fraction of the pace, and energy consumption has remained static.
Every barrel left under the North Sea is a barrel the UK will have to import from another part of the world, with the heavier carbon toll that shipping across oceans carries.
And that’s why I’m optimistic, even in the face of fresh Scottish Government opposition which makes very little economic sense and even less environmental sense.
Russell Borthwick is chief executive of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce
Conversation