Multimillion-pound plans to revamp the historic heart of a north-east port have been given a huge boost.
The £1.8million Heritage Lottery grant awarded to Aberdeenshire Council is the final piece in the funding jigsaw for the £5.7million Fraserburgh regeneration scheme.
The rest of the cash will come from the local authority itself, which is pumping in £1.4 million, £1.2 million from Historic Environment Scotland, £600,000 from the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Capital Grant Fund and £700,00 from expected private owner contributions.
Work will start soon on the Fraserburgh 2021 project, which will include the refurbishment of the town house in Saltoun Square and the former police station in Kirk Brae.
David Aitchison, the chairman of the local authority’s infrastructure services committee, said: “The announcement of the last of the funding to allow this project to go ahead is a great vote of confidence for Fraserburgh businesses and communities.
“This is a significant and very visible project which is an integral part of regeneration for the town, and I hope local property owners will continue to work with us to bring up the quality of the town centre generally, which should have a positive impact on the conservation area and the wider community.”
Fraserburgh councillor Charles Buchan said he has been campaigning for regeneration in the heart of Fraserburgh since he was first elected.
He said: “I’m delighted that he final piece of the jigsaw is now in place.
“This has been a dream of mine since I was first elected in 2012, when I firstly worked for Fraserburgh to have conservation area status.
“This allowed us to work for outside money to improve the town centre.
“This should make a great difference to the town, and boost employment possibilities both in construction and in the proposed business centre.”
But Councillor Michael Watt said he believed the money, especially the cash from Aberdeenshire council tax payers, would be better served encouraging tourism and investment.
He said: “I’m always a fan of money being invested in Fraserburgh, but I personally think puttying millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money into a building like that (the town house) is not the best way to spend money in the town.
“The building is about 150 years out of date, when you go inside it’s very, very old, and the police station is practically needing rebuilt at this stage.
“This will not create any permanent jobs in Fraserburgh in my opinion, and it won’t do a lot to bring any new business into the town.
“We should be looking forward as a town and building for the future, instead of trying to recreate the town as it was.
“However, any money being spent in Fraserburgh is great.
“It’s certainly not going to do any harm, but I question if it’s going to do any good.”
