Dumfries and Galloway councillors set to agree local place plans for four communities

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Members of the public who are proactively pushing for the transformation of their communities are about to see their efforts pay off.

Residents in Gretna, Rigg, Gretna Green and Springfield, and St John’s Town of Dalry, have been busy over the past year or so working up proposals for the creation of local place plans (LLPs).

These LLPs give power to the people to transform where they live, and this grassroots approach has been described by Dumfries and Galloway Council bosses as “empowering communities to achieve their ambitions by working in partnership with the council”.

At the council’s economy and resources committee today, councillors will be asked to agree
to register LLPs for Gretna, Rigg, Gretna Green and Springfield,
and St John’s Town of Dalry.

Dalry Community Council, Glenkens Community and Arts Trust (GCAT),
and Glenkens Community Spaces Network (GCSN) have been leading the way with the Dalry local place
plan.

Council papers state: “The LPP identifies a set underlying principles for positive change in and around St John’s Town of Dalry to be achieved effectively.

“The community wants to work constructively with the public and private organisations whose work impacts on their community action plan goal that The Glenkens will be
a connected, resilient and carbon neutral place, where people will want to live, work and visit, to bring-up their families, and to grow old.”

The Dalry LPP has been divided into three thematic areas for improvement: roads and active travel; resources, services, facilities and employment; and recreation, land use and access
to nature.

Work on the Gretna, Rigg, Gretna Green and Springfield Place Plan commenced in November 2023.

The council report states: “A wide range of community engagement took place over an extended period which included: a community survey, engagement events, engagement with children and young people including school visits, walking visits and community conversations, visits and telephone interviews with businesses and six thematic sessions.

“These reached around 10 percent of the population.”

The six themes for this place plan are: an enterprising place; a skilled place; a beautiful and safe place; an active place; a place to live; and a place to be young.

As individual projects are developed within the place plans, funding for them will come from the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal, but also in some cases there may be additional investment required from other funders, potentially including Dumfries and Galloway Council.

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