PRIORITIES

Community engagement

We held hundreds of conversations with local people from Autumn 2022 to Spring 2023 in workshops, drop-ins, group meetings, one-to-ones and public meetings to understand their priorities and use them to shape the Place Plan.

See the outcomes below.

The Five Strands

These were the key strands or themes local people were concerned about. (There’s more info on them below.) :

1. Quality of Life – Healthcare, Poverty, Drink/drugs
2. Work & Opportunity –  Transport, Enterprise, Employment
3. Play & Creativity – The George Hotel, One Waterfront, Playtime
4. Environment & Climate – Climate Change, Food Futures, Environment
5. Pride & Citizenship – Vacant/derelict spaces, Democracy, Destination Stranraer.

The Four Quarters 

We’ve mapped ideas and solutions to transform the town in Four Quarters:

• Q1 One Waterfront – East Pier, watersports centre, marina
• Q2 Uptown – the planned culture/leisure quarter: George Hotel, new King Street creative hub, Millennium Centre, Museum, Library, Ryan Centre
• Q3 Enterprise Zone – town centre shops and businesses
• Q4 Sanctuary – 20 acres of wild space behind football ground.

The Six Priorities

Finally, we identified 6 projects that would help transform the town and during the month-long consultation in June 2023 on our CitizenSpace platform, 600 local people took part to rank priorities. This is how the ranking came out:

1. East Pier EventSpace: create a prom to walk, cycle and host events.
2. Wet Weather Escapes: indoor family fun – like laser tag – in the town centre.
3. The Big Makeover: transform shopfronts and streetscapes.
4. ‘Revive’ Town Centre Living: turn empty properties into housing and enterprise opportunities.
5. Stanctuary Outdoor Nursery: a sanctuary at the Black Stank – sanctuary. Child care space in nature to support parents to be able to work.
6. Dick’s Hill Wellbeing Hub: a shared space for wellbeing, growing, connection.   

We hope to get £3 million from Borderlands Growth Deal.