The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Fears tourism grants missed
Concerns have been raised Moray Council may be missing out on tourism funding grants to prepare the region for another staycation surge.
Destinations across the north and north-east are expected to rely on UK visitors through the summer season again due to the pandemic.
Last year some beauty spots were overwhelmed with tourists with facilities unable to cope.
Grants have been made available to help fund improvements to avoid the same happening again, with Nature Scot offering up to £75,000 as part of a Green Recovery Fund.
However, concerns have been raised that Moray Council is under-staffed to capitalise on the grants due to staff being too busy administering separate grants to businesses to submit an application.
Officials have stressed resources are expected to free-up but opposition councillors are concerned opportunities may already have been missed.
Independent Speyside Glenlivet councillor Derek Ross said: “Officers blame capacity and I understand that, but if that is the case councillors should be presented with options on how to fix that.
“I can think of a huge range of projects which would have fitted under the recent grants which would have been brilliant for my ward. The Green Recovery Fund could give us rangers who could help support tourism over the summer or reopen some of the public toilets.”
Conservative group leader Tim Eagle said: “While it was good to hear at a recent meeting an application will now be made, that was not originally the case.”
Concerns about the Green Recovery Fund follow a separate £400,000 Moray Council tourism project being delayed because a funding bid was not ready.
Meanwhile, independent Buckie councillor Gordon Cowie has also raised concerns about the local authority missing out on a harbours fund to compensate for a loss of landing fees during the pandemic, from which Fraserburgh received £500,000 to fund repairs.
Depute chief executive Rhona Gunn said dedicating a team to funding applications was unlikely to resolve the issue due to a need for specialist knowledge but the situation was likely to improve.