Fraserburgh Town Centre Health Check 2023

Please scroll down through the report or you can use the above headings to navigate to each section.

Located in northeastern Aberdeenshire and identified as a Regeneration Priority Area, Fraserburgh serves as a major employment and service centre. It is home to a premier fishing harbour and it's growth has been tied to the fortunes of the industry ever since it's early origins. Bounded to the north and east by the sea, Fraserburgh has expanded inland without the landward physical constraints of many of the smaller coastline settlements. The north has undergone extensive housing regeneration and new tourism and recreation opportunities are being provided with the ongoing regeneration to the lighthouse and beach. The publication of the  Fraserburgh Town Profile 2023  shows the most recent statistics for the town including population, economy and housing data.

The Growth of Fraserburgh

Fraserburgh received its charter in 1546, but had been in use as a harbour before the first stone pier was built here in 1576 by Sir Alexander Fraser. Having been known as Faithlie it was then renamed after Sir Fraser. In 1894 there were over 800 fishing boats based in Fraserburgh which was almost one for every ten people living there at the time. Today, Fraserburgh, commonly know as ‘The Broch’, retains its role as an important commercial fishing port with a number of associated industries such as fish processing growing up around it. Its seaside location also means it offers attractions to tourists and in the past was well-regarded as a holiday destination. Manufacturing and harbour related industries are now the dominant forms of employment.

 ^{Source: Understanding Scottish Places and Undiscovered Scotland} 

You can zoom in and out of the maps using the functions in the bottom right corner. To expand a point on the map, please click and additional information will be shown. Images both on the map points and within the text can be clicked on to enlarge.

Please scroll down, or click the relevant section, to explore the following information gathered as part of the 2023 Town Centre Health Check:

•  Cafés and Restaurants 
•  Evening Economy 
•  Leisure and Culture Outlets, and Public Services 
•  Other Services 
•  Connectivity 

Mobile coverage within Fraserburgh Town Centre is very strong with all of the top networks being able to be connected at a 4G level. There is currently no coverage of 5G within the town centre. Broadband coverage is also strong with fibre and superfast broadband being available within the town. There is no free public WIFI available within the town centre.

You can zoom in and out of the maps using the functions in the bottom right corner. To expand a point on the map, please click and additional information will be shown. Images both on the map points and within the text can be clicked on to enlarge.

Please scroll down, or click the relevant section, to explore the following information gathered as part of the 2023 Town Centre Health Check:

•  Care and Maintenance 
•  Town Centre Environment , including attractiveness of the town centre and cleanliness and quality of pavements
•  Historic Environment 
•  Seating and Public Art 
•  Natural Space and Play and Recreation Facilities 

You can zoom in and out of the maps using the functions in the bottom right corner. To expand a point on the map, please click and additional information will be shown. Images both on the map points and within the text can be clicked on to enlarge.

Please scroll down, or click the relevant section, to explore the following information gathered as part of the 2023 Town Centre Health Check:

•  Getting Around the Town Centre and Signage 
•  Cycling 
•  Traffic and Parking 
•  Public Transport 
•  Public Transport Routes 

In addition to the bus services outlined below, there is a pre-bookable  Fraserburgh A2B  Council operated dial-a-bus that serves Fraserburgh, Sandhaven and Rosehearty. This is a free service and for those that meet the criteria to use it.

Please scroll down, or click the relevant section, to explore the following information gathered as part of the 2023 Town Centre Health Check:

•  Identity and Belonging 
•  Influence and Sense of Control 
•  Social Contact and Events 
•  Feeling Safe 
•  Housing Profile and Population 
•  Visiting the Town Centre 

Where there are maps, you can zoom in and out of these using the functions in the bottom left corner. To expand a point on the map, please click and additional information will be shown. Images both on the map points and within the text can be clicked on to enlarge.

When asked about how they felt about the town centre, the majority of community respondents felt negative 62%, with 28% neutral and 10% positive. Overall, it was felt that more could be done to make the town centre a more vibrant place with more shops, seating and facilities to bring people to the town centre. Whilst the regeneration efforts on Mid Street were noted, it was felt by some respondents that by not renovating other areas these efforts were not bringing an overall positive effect to the town centre. The business survey was more positive about the town centre (42%) which is also reflected again in the  Business Survey  highlights below.

Fraserburgh does have community groups that work on town centre specific projects, as well as wider Fraserburgh. In the Community Survey 2023, 61% of respondents were not aware of any groups, therefore perhaps greater promotion of these groups would beneficial to highlight the work that they undertake.

Below is a list of the community groups which were identified within the community survey 2023. This list is only those highlighted by the community and is not exhaustive of all groups within Fraserburgh which may do work on the town centre. Links to webpages have been provided where possible.

•  Fraserburgh 2021  (funded and supported by Aberdeenshire Council, Heritage Lottery Fund and Historic Environment Scotland)
•  Fraserburgh Community Council , including Reslience Group, Flower Fairies and litter picking
•  Fraserburgh Enterprise Hub 
• Community events run by shops, e.g. Children's Halloween etc
•  Fraserburgh Beach Vision & Masterplan 

The overall population total for Fraserburgh in 2020 was 12,570 and it is estimated that approximately 845 people live within the town centre. The average house price for dwellings within the town centre boundary in 2020/2021 calcultated by an average of sales within the town centre was £37,500 (based on 2 house sales) compared with the average house price in Aberdeenshire of £230,038. The number of sales within Fraserburgh Town Centre equated to 1% of all sales within the settlement.

The majority of survey respondents visit the the town centre every few days or once a week, with few respondents visiting the town centre daily.

The most common time people visit the town centre is during the week between 12 noon and 6pm which could be conducive to working hours. There are few people who visit the town centre during the weekends or after 6pm which is indicative of comments received throughout the survey in relation to things to do and the feeling of safety at night. As would be expected, the main reason for visits is shopping followed by Post Office/ Council Services. Other reasons for visiting included dropping off for dance classes and clubs and visiting the pharmacy. Most community survey respondents rated vibrancy during the day as poor which could link with other areas of the health check and respondents highlighting a lack of shops and facilities to visit in the town centre.

Please scroll down, or click the relevant section, to explore the following information gathered as part of the 2023 Town Centre Health Check:

•  Employment and Income 
•  Average Consumer Spend 2023 
•  Business Survey Highlights 2023 
•  Property 
•  Tourism 

Images within the text can be clicked on to enlarge.

Fraserburgh is a designated Regeneration Priority Area which is an area identified for reinvigoration and support for run down communities and towns to address problems of economic and social disadvantage, to achieve improved prosperity, well-being and quality of life (Aberdeenshire Local Development Plan, 2023).

The current employment and income picture is as would be expected for a harbour town with a high proportion of manufacturing, retail and fishing jobs. There has been a slight reduction in the number of those employed in the agriculture, forestry and fishing and the health sector, however manufacturing and retail has remained the same since 2021.

Following the rise in the claimant count rate in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has decreased back down similar levels seen in 2019, albeit still remaining higher than both Banff and Buchan and Aberdeenshire.

Fraserburgh town centre is within the 11-15% most deprived areas in Scotland (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, 2020) and is perhaps reflective of the median income levels for the area, £21,988 compared to £32,859 for the wider Banff and Buchan area and £41,756 for Aberdeenshire.

 ^{Source: CACI Limited 1996-2023. This report shall be used solely for academic, personal and/or non-commercial purposes.} 

From the 2023 survey responses, the results showed a reasonably balanced spend profile in the town centre, with Food Shopping accounting for the biggest expenditure across the spend brackets by visitors. Other Shopping was spread out across the price brackets indicating that people were visiting for a wide variety of different items. The Hair and Beauty sector tended towards a higher value spend but with less people spending in this sector. Eating Out and Takeaways seemed to be mostly in the middle of the spectrum. There was very little spend on Events/ Entertainment highlighting the lack of opportunities in this area, picked up elsewhere in the health check. 

12 businesses responded to the survey and provided a mixed outlook for the town, highlighting both a longer term decline due to lack of maintenance and upkeep of the town centre, issues relating to parking and not enough support for new and existing businesses. Below are the highlights taken from the survey responses:

• 100% of businesses that responded were independent as opposed to part of a chain;
• 83% are established businesses, 17% are start ups/ at early stage;
• 33% of businesses are extremely confident about their future business performance in Fraserburgh, 42% are neutral and 25% are unconfident;
• 59% of businesses are not planning on changing their opening hours over the next year, with 33% unsure and 8% planning to decrease their hours;
• 100% of businesses have an online presence, but only 25% sell online;
• Of the online tools available, 100% use Facebook which is then followed by Instagram (67%) and Own Website (67%). Tripadvisor, Twitter and TikTok are also used by some of the businesses.

Whilst it is not ideal that that employment figures have changed at over half the businesses that responded to the survey, it is encouraging to see that some businesses have experienced an increase in their turnover in the past two years. There are also some businesses which are confident about their future and hope to grow or expand within the next 1-5 years which is reassuring. It is also clear that businesses are making good use of online tools.

The slight majority (67%) of businesses that responded to the survey were owned and encouragingly some these businesses are looking to invest in their premises over the next 1-5 years.

Where there were vacant units on the High Street last year, some of these benefitted from improvements to their frontages previously and some of these are now occupied which is good to see. Furthermore, there is also other investment taking place from existing units, such as Cheers, which are renovating other units and looking to open in the near future. The regeneration works undertaken through the Fraserburgh 2021 scheme were acknowledged within the community surveys, however it was felt that this could be extended to other properties within the town centre. It was also felt by some of those who responded to the business survey that more could be done to help new businesses get themselves established.

Figures for the number of people visiting the  town pages  from VisitAberdeenshire has been gathered since the new style Town Centre Health Checks have been produced. The number of page visits has slightly decreased year on year since 2019, with a slight peak in 2021.

Please click through the images using the arrow buttons to see the Business and Community responses to the 2023 survey, including the highest and lowest scoring categories.