A Moray Council survey aims to find out what people think about their town centres.

The Town Centre Perception Survey is inviting people’s views on town centres in Aberlour, Keith, Buckie, Dufftown, Forres, Elgin, and Lossiemouth. See full article here.

Moray Council has agreed car parking in its car parks in Elgin will be free on Saturdays to promote shops and facilities in the run up to Christmas.

The scheme is an extension of the council’s Christmas shopping car parking promotion called ‘Free After 3’. See full article here.

Moray organisations in the arts, culture and heritage sectors are being invited to apply for grants of up to £20,000, funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The £100,000 scheme will cover revenue costs only. This means that it can fund costs associated with, but not limited to, laying on events, performances or activities, or covering running costs, wages and professional fees, or trips and excursions. See full article here.

Moray Council’s housing tenants are being asked for their views on a draft Tenant Participation Strategy.

The draft document, shaped by input from Moray Tenant Forum and some tenants, was approved this week for public consultation by the council’s Housing and Community Safety Committee, on 21 November 2023. See full article here.

Moray Council is considering changing the way it sets council house rents and service charges and is asking residents to help shape the proposals.

A revised rent setting policy, approved by the Housing and Community Safety Committee today (21 November 2024), is open for public consultation. See full article here.

Benchmarking against Scottish Social Housing Charter standards in 2022/23 ranks Moray Council better than the Scottish and Local Authority average on the quality and value of its housing services.

A compliance report to Moray Council's Housing and Community Safety Committee today (Tuesday 21 November 2023) shows emergency and non-emergency housing repairs were carried out almost twice as fast as the Scottish average, with a higher percentage of repairs ‘right first time’. See full article here.

The staff team and children of Lhanbryde Primary School have been praised by inspectors from Education Scotland for creating positive and trusting relationships across the school.

See full article here.

Inspection works start on Monday 20 November to check the viability of Roysvale Park as a potential new site for the future Forres Academy.

See full article here.

Moray Council is inviting feedback from residents on rules it has drafted for people holding allotments on sites it owns and manages.

See full article here.

A Town Centre Capital Grant Scheme with funding of £268,000 is available for town centres in Aberlour, Buckie, Dufftown, Elgin, Forres, Keith, and Lossiemouth.

The fund administered by Moray Council aims to support existing and new businesses and encourage the redevelopment and reuse of vacant properties. See full article here.

An annual report on Moray Council’s energy strategy and actions shows an overall reduction in water and energy consumption in its buildings, by 3.4% and 7% respectively, on last year.

This is equivalent in monetary savings to more than £225,000. See full article here.

A second drop-in event for Dufftown’s Hillside Farm Housing Masterplan will showcase progress on the design and site layout concept.

A successful exhibition in August 2023 introduced the project to locals, a phase of the Housing Mix Delivery project which is being funded by the Scottish Government and Moray Council via the Moray Growth Deal. Dufftown and District Community Association (DDCA) is also partnering to develop community-led affordable housing, which will form part of the wider masterplan. See full article here.

Community Council volunteers could be trained to become dedicated Road Safety Champions if proposals agreed by Moray Council’s Economic Development and Infrastructure Services Committee are supported by external stakeholders.

Volunteers would be prepared with a solid understanding of road safety to be well-placed to disseminate road safety information to the wider community, maximising the council’s efforts to highlight that road safety is the responsibility of all road users, as set out in the Scottish Governments Road Safety Framework to 2030. See full article here.

Moray Council has made good progress in the first year of its five-year Active Travel Strategy (2022-2027).

The plan sets out how the council promotes more non-motorised travel for residents and visitors, like walking and cycling. See full article here.

Forres charity ReBOOT has received The King’s Award for Voluntary Service. This is the highest award a local voluntary group can receive in the UK and is equivalent to an MBE.

See full article here.