A business group set up to improve Peterhead and put it back on the map has failed to secure a second term.
Rediscover Peterhead, a business improvement district (Bid), has worked for five years to boost the Blue Toon.
The group – which businesses pay a levy for – say they have gone from “strength to strength” since 2017, launching a vast variety of projects to increase footfall in the town and support local business.
But following an anonymous ballot of all eligible businesses within the Bid, the organisation has now been voted out from another five-year term.
The renewal process was launched in May and the final votes were counted on Friday.
A total of 127 people responded to the ballot – only half of those entitled to have their say – with 49 voting in favour and 78 against the renewal of Rediscover Peterhead.
Linda Hendry, Rediscover Peterhead manager, said it was a blow to the town and all the work they’ve done to support businesses through Covid, as well as soaring utility prices.
Ms Hendry, who has headed the organisation since June, said: “It’s deeply disappointing. I just feel we could have done so much more, take more projects off the ground and get a lot more investment in the town.
“It will be a major blow for Peterhead as we know that council resources are stretched to the max and the Bid helped fill that gap with a number of things.
“And some of the business owners that have come back to me after the results of the ballot have said they are gutted the Bid is not going ahead.
“The benefits of having a Bid is that you have somebody to listen to what you want and try to make this happen.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have a magic wand to do it all but the thing for Peterhead was increase footfall – and I think we’ve had a lot of success with that.
“We don’t have a business association in Peterhead, so essentially everything that we were supporting and doing will stop.”
Stop to several ‘successful’ initiatives
In the last five years, Rediscover Peterhead has introduced a number of projects to promote the town, such as the seafood festival and the monthly producers’ market.
They have also played a big part in the installation of a CCTV system and helped improve surfacing, lighting and signage in the town centre.
Some of the main highlights were the launch of the Discover Peterhead app, and Invest in Peterhead – a project aimed at attracting retailers to fill empty units in the town.
With the closure of the Bid, however, most of these initiatives will cease to operate – even though the organisation will continue working until the end of November.
Ms Hendry added that while she doesn’t know the particular reason why businesses voted out the group, she reckons it was prompted by the financial challenges they are facing.
“I think what didn’t help was the current economic climate,” she added.
“Our ballot opened in mid-August and that’s when everything started changing – the energy crisis, the cost of living crisis, businesses being hit by massive energy bills.
“It’s a double-edge sword really.
“We’ve been trying to work with the businesses, share information and talk to energy brokers to see how they can support them and help them reduce costs.
“But at the end of the day, business owners are just looking at what they are paying out each month and maybe that was a cost saving that they wished to make.
“Within our last five-year term we’ve dealt with Covid as well, so maybe there was just not the same drive.”
Split opinion on Rediscover Peterhead’s impact
Rediscover Peterhead drew an annual town centre investment of £111,500, and has more recently been also supporting businesses with the cost of living crisis.
But owner of Symposium Coffee House, Paul Haggath, who runs 10 shops across Aberdeenshire including Peterhead and Fraserburgh, “never saw the benefit” of the Bid.
Mr Haggath, who didn’t vote in the ballot and left it to other businesses to decide, said: “On the grand scheme of things, I just didn’t see any benefit for my business to be worth paying the annual fee.
“It was a good opportunity for them to try, and maybe it did make a difference for other businesses, but I personally think it just never worked.
“The whole idea of regeneration of the town centre and helping local businesses needs more than – especially in the current climate.”
Meanwhile, co-founder of Peterhead-based microbrewery Brew Toon, Cammy Bowden, said he is “really disappointed” to see Rediscover Peterhead gone.
He said: “A lot of local businesses maybe saw it as an extra expense or they didn’t really agree with how the money are getting spent, and I can see their point to an extent.
“But they were people coming in and trying to make the area better so I’m disappointed it was voted out.
“They’ve benefited our business a number of times – they helped us in terms of additional funding to go towards digital marketing and got more people to come in.
“We’ve only seen it as a positive thing for Peterhead so it’s a shame to lose it.”
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