22 June 2021

Inverurie chosen to pilot new town centre health check

Residents, businesses and community partners in Inverurie are being invited to engage in a ‘health check’ of their town centre.

The town has been selected by Aberdeenshire Council as a pilot project running throughout the summer which will assess its strengths, vitality and viability, weaknesses and resilience.

Regular health checks are used to inform development plans and decisions on future planning applications, but are also vital in monitoring a town centre’s performance.

Last undertaken across 12 Aberdeenshire towns in 2017, plans were underway to re-visit these early in 2020 but were delayed as a result of the Covid pandemic.

Now, the council’s Planning Information and Delivery Team will survey public opinions on a wide range of themes which will provide an insight into the economic, social and environmental factors which play such a critical part in the vitality of a town centre.

These will include the town’s vibrancy, range of shops and services and opening hours. The council will also undertake an accessibility survey with members of the community with lived experience of navigating the town centre, while footfall counting will also be monitored.

Residents and anyone who visits Inverurie to shop or work can access the survey here: https://engage.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/inverurie-town-centre-health-check

Businesses will be surveyed in conjunction with the ‘We are Inverurie’ business improvement district, but can also access the survey via the above link.

As a part of this survey we are also asking everyone to use a mapping tool to highlight positive and negative areas within the town centre. Respondents can also upload photographs to highlight the point. These pins will help us to build up a visual representation of the character of the town centre.

The closing date for all surveys is Wednesday, July 14.

Project lead Suzanne Rhind said: “The Inverurie pilot project will be used to determine how a full-roll out of health checks across other towns in Aberdeenshire will be undertaken later in the year.

“It is really important that the community use this opportunity to tell us how the feel about their town centre which will help us to better understand its needs and requirements and where change can be planned and developed in the future.”