However much you love your home town, you can usually think of a few improvements.
Elgin missed out on Levelling Up funding recently, and is facing the same pressures as other centres across the country.
Shops close and often aren’t replaced, and there are tensions between town centre and out-of-town shopping.
So we asked what you might like to see in terms of Elgin improvements.
Your answers were very interesting – and maybe it’s time for someone to listen to these local voices.
In no particular order, here are the changes you think would make a difference to Moray’s main town.
Shops: More and better
Primark, Hobbycraft, a toy shop, a sports shop… You have put together a bit of a wish list of shops you would like to see in town.
And some of you think a big name could bring others in its wake.
Annie Rowett-Glynn sums up the situation as she sees it, saying: “There’s hardly any reason to go to the high street now all the shops are closed or closing.”
Elgin has a Marks and Spencer and supermarkets, and the St Giles Centre. We have written about some independent businesses that have opened recently too.
But people want more.
Pauline Grant said: “I have said for years if there was a space up the high street for a Primark it would bring lots of people back to the high street.
“This would encourage other businesses to open in the high street again.”
Others said they would like to see a toy shop and a sports shop – and there was a definite vote for a Hobbycraft.
Sadly, Junners the toy shop closed quite a few years ago.
Parking: problems need to be sorted
Jim Cameron said the town needs better parking for the disabled.
Douglas Robertson had something to say about parking. He would like to see the parking at the St Giles Centre sorted.
He added: “Especially those parking meters which have never worked.”
We have covered some parking woes in Elgin. Parking charges were frozen in January.
The high street: A little bit of TLC
We have covered shops and parking, but what about the High Street itself?
Some of you would like to see just a general clean-up of what is there already as a key Elgin improvement.
Douglas Robertson says: “Elgin high street could be improved massively with the aid of a power washer and a handful of folk doing community service.”
He suggests a good clean of the pavements, clearing out gutters and “even a coat of paint here and there could help”.
He added: “It will never be what it used to but if it was clean it may be more inviting to people and new businesses alike.”
A bypass: Just skip through town
Alan Smith told us the town needs a bypass.
At the moment, although major traffic doesn’t hit the High Street itself, the A96 is front and centre in town.
Some days, the Tesco roundabout must feel like it’s never quiet.
Last year, we reported how two Moray councillors called for the local authority to write to the transport minister about it.
And we have also been closely following the general health of the A96, from Inverness to Aberdeen.
Derelict buildings
Beyond the high street and the A96, there are buildings dotted about Elgin that seem to be in need of help to reach their potential.
Some of you felt that improving even a couple of the empty – and in some cases crumbling – properties would help.
Emily Stalker wrote: “Let’s see at least one of the vacant and derelict properties in the conservation area begun to be repaired and restored.
“Where there is a will there is a way.”
Grant Lodge, the Gordon Arms and the Jailhouse have all figured in discussions of possible Elgin improvements.
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