The Whithorn Place Plan

The successfully completed Whithorn Place Plan, and the appendices, are available to download and read below:
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Whithorn Place Plan

Whithorn Place Plan - Appendix 1-3

Whithorn Place Plan - Appendix 4

What is a Place Plan?

A Place Plan is a document that expresses the community’s aspirations for their town. It is made for and with local people. The Whithorn Place Plan will belong to the people of Whithorn.

They empower communities to shape the future and the development of their neighbourhoods and hopefully enhance the quality of life for people that live within those neighbourhoods.
They help communities understand what they want their place to be like in the future.
They express the community’s aspirations and solutions which can influence local planning policy.
They can include proposals about how land is developed and used within their local area and can describe the types of changes that local people want to see.
They can develop local connections and collaborations and develop community capacity.

For more information on Local Place Plans, please visit the Dumfries and Galloway Council website via the link below:

www.dumgal.gov.uk/local-place-plans

What can be included in a Place Plan?

The Plan should focus on actions and priorities that are realistic and deliverable. This can include both short term actions, or ‘quick wins’, designed to build momentum as well as longer term actions which might take years to complete.
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Here are some examples of themes that proposals may fit within, but this list is not exhaustive:

Use of land
Public transport
Open space
Health and well-being
Poverty
Facilities and services
Education
Environment
Etc.

Is there funding for Place Plans?

There may be funding available to support eligible projects that may be identified through the Place Plan process; no funds have yet been applied for. The Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal is one of these potential funders, and there is around £15 million in total available for capital projects in this fund.
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There are 5 towns across Dumfries and Galloway that have borderlands status, so can use their Place Plan to apply to this funding. These include:
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Whithorn
Wigtown
Gretna
Kirkconnel & Kelloholm
Stranraer
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For more information on The Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal, please visit their website via the link below:
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www.borderlandsgrowth.com

The Whithorn Place Plan has been approved by Borderlands!

Members at the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal Partnership meeting (23rd June) have approved the Place Plan for Whithorn, enabling the community to progress to the next stage of the Place Programme.

Following a comprehensive public and stakeholder consultation process, the Whithorn Place Plan has now been successfully completed.

To Summarise, the plan highlights the community’s ultimate six initiatives for the town;
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1. Improvement, Reinstatement and Care of Buildings
2. Intergenerational Upskilling and Training
3. Improve Connections Within and Beyond Whithorn
4. Safeguarding Existing Heritage Assets
5. Places to Wait and Rest
6. ‘Filling the Gaps’ in the Bus Service

Taking these initiatives into consideration, there have been six priority projects identified and proposed by various groups within the town, the proposed projects are;
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1. South Machars Community Centre Evolution
2. Reinstatement of Derelict Historic Building at Grapes Hotel
3. Net Zero Training Flagship at Whithorn Old Town Hall
4. Centre for Understanding Early Mediaeval Scotland
5. Aet Hwitan-Aerne: ReBuilding Whithorn’s Anglian Minster
6. Townscape Improvements at the Heart of Whithorn

The Whithorn Place Plan document can be found at the top of this website.

In terms of next steps - once approved by Borderlands Partnership Board the process of developing a Borderlands Town Investment Plan can commence, this process will consider the concept of each project, whether it meets specific Borderlands criteria and importantly how they would benefit the community of Whithorn.

Engagement opportunities

Opportunities to engage from the first stage of public consultation in February 2024:

An online survey was live from Monday 5th February - Sunday 25th February (with paper versions avaliable in Whithorn Library)
Wednesday 14th February, 11am - 1pm (Drop-in session at Whithorn Library)
Wednesday 14th February, 6pm - 8pm (Drop-in session at Whithorn Library)
Saturday 24th February, 11am - 1pm (Drop-in session at Whithorn Library)
We also popped into a variety of existing groups and sessions between South Machars Community Centre and New Town Hall to talk to community members attending events.
We collaborated with Dumfries and Galloway Youth Work Service to facilitate a workshop with young people in Whithorn that attend Douglas-Ewart High School.
A final comment period with an online survey (paper versions were available in Whithorn Library) to rank the projects within the Whithorn Place Plan (draft) ran from Monday 24th June to Monday 12th August 2024. This aligned with the required statutory consultation period for comment by neighbouring community councils and elected members.

Opportunity to engage from the second stage of public consultation in Summer 2024:

An online survey was live from Monday 24th June - Monday 12th August, in which the community was asked to rank the projects in The Whithorn Place Plan draft and tell us their priorities.

Opportunity to engage from the third stage of public consultation in early 2025:

From 15th January to 4th February 2025, the community were invited to submit a Expression of Interest (EOI) form in relation to project proposals, which were available on this website.
Afterward, a second EOI form was circulated to those who submitted an initial EOI, to gain more information and detail on the proposed projects.

To see Dumfries and Galloway Council's answers to frequently asked questions regarding Place Plans, please follow the link below:

www.dumgal.gov.uk/article/24808/Local-Place-Plans-FAQ

Please see below for the seven Strategic Objectives of the Borderlands Place Programme

Empower local communities to imagine and then build a long-term future for the towns they live in, firmly in partnership with local, regional and national governments.
Safeguard existing businesses and attract new businesses to our towns and town centres.
Maintain and increase the number of visitors who spend time and money in our towns and town centres, increasing spend per visit and extending the visitor season.
Safeguard existing employment and deliver new jobs and opportunities for economic and social participation, including education and training opportunities.
Maintain and increase the number of people living in our towns and town centres..
Retain and increase our working age population.
Maintain and raise the standard of the physical environment in our towns and town centres.

The Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal, under which the Place Programme sits, includes a commitment to delivering inclusive and sustainable growth. The aim is to overcome the 3 BIG challenges that hold the Borderlands back from achieving its potential:

Narrowing the productivity gap
Increasing the working age population
Delivering inclusive growth

New Practice (Lead Consultant)

New Practice is an architecture practice in Glasgow. We exist to develop the community, creative and cultural capacity of cities and to connect people with the decision making processes that underpin the urban experience. To find out more, please visit our website: new-practice.co.uk

Page\Park (Project Support)

Page\Park is a progressive design practice with offices in Glasgow and Leeds, operating across the UK. We are an employee-owned business, with a reputation for inventive contemporary design grounded in an understanding of history, people, and place. To find out more, please visit their website: pagepark.co.uk

The Whithorn Place Plan

About this project

The Whithorn Place Plan

What is a Place Plan?

What can be included in a Place Plan?

Is there funding for Place Plans?

July 2025 update!

The Whithorn Place Plan has been approved by Borderlands!

Previous Community Engagement

Engagement opportunities

FAQs

Please see below for the seven Strategic Objectives of the Borderlands Place Programme

The Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal, under which the Place Programme sits, includes a commitment to delivering inclusive and sustainable growth. The aim is to overcome the 3 BIG challenges that hold the Borderlands back from achieving its potential:

Team

New Practice (Lead Consultant)

Page\Park (Project Support)

Contact

Send us an email: whithornplaceplan@new-practice.co.uk