Deadline fast approaching for Peterhead Town Board nominations

The Town Board will feature local champions from the community.

Residents, businesses, community groups and organisations in Peterhead are being reminded to make nominations for the new Town Board which will oversee the town’s £20million funding programme.

The Long Term Plan for Towns funding announced by the UK Government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, will be spent over the next decade and will be managed by the Town Board.

It will feature local champions from the community including representatives from the voluntary and education sector, business, cultural, arts and sports, Aberdeenshire Council and the local MP.

Under the new approach, local people will be put in charge and given the tools to change their town’s long-term future. They will:

- Receive a ten-year endowment-style fund to be spent on local people’s priorities, like regenerating local high streets and town centres or securing public safety

- Set up a Town Board to bring together community leaders, employers and local authorities to deliver the Long-Term Plan for their town and put it to local people for consultation

However, the deadline for the new Peterhead Town Board is fast-approaching – you only have until June 1 to nominate yourself or others. You can submit nominations at engage.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/peterhead-long-term-plan-for-towns.

The Town Board will be independently chaired and be formed to represent community interests, business perspectives and public organisations. The Long-Term Plan it will develop must include a 10-year vision and an initial 3-year investment plan.

Aberdeenshire Council Leader Cllr Gillian Owen said: “This £20 million investment in Peterhead over the next decade is tremendous news for the town and will provide crucial long-term certainty to deliver projects over the coming years. I think it’s really exciting to have a Town Board made up of local community champions – be that residents, business owners or volunteers - to deliver a Long-Term Plan for their town and put it to the community for consultation.”

Cllr Dianne Beagrie, chair of the council’s Buchan Area Committee, added: “Through the appointment of a Town Board which will develop a ten-year plan for this financial support, it will ensure that this investment in Peterhead is agreed by local leaders and that the funding is used to address the issues that matter most to local people. Of course, while this money is to be invested directly in Peterhead, there can be no doubt that the benefits will be felt more widely.”