Dumfries has launched its official campaign to become the UK’s newest city.
The campaign is calling for the area to be named a winner in the Queen’s 2022 Civic Honours competition.
Towns across the country are making their cases to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Civic Awards, which will announce the successful cities next year.
If the Dumfries bid – named ‘Queen of the South’ – is successful it would see the town become the first city in the south of Scotland – and the first rural city in the country.
Dumfries Provost, Tracey Little, is leading the committee making the bid. She said: “This will be a community-led bid with the aim of bringing benefits to the whole of Dumfries and Galloway. Giving us city status would lead to new investment, more jobs, more opportunities for our young people and really put the area on the map across the UK and beyond.
“This is a rare opportunity to showcase Dumfries – and the wider region – and show our ambition to grow and develop. We are absolutely in this to win it.”
This bid is being supported by local charities, businesses, local schools, community groups and organisations such as DGHP, part of Wheatley Group – Scotland’s leading housing, care and property-management group.
The Provost and committee will submit the bid ahead of the 8 December 2021 deadline.
Other Scottish towns expected to submit a bid include Dunfermline, Greenock, Oban and Irvine.
In 2012, in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year, the winners were Perth in Scotland, Chelmsford in England and St Asaph in Wales.
Provost Little believes Dumfries should become the latest new UK city. She added: “Dumfries has such a rich culture and history, as well as civic pride to be proud of.
“Whether it be our connection to JM Barrie, the Moat Brae Peter Pan Centre, Robert the Bruce, Robert Burns, and all his connections to Dumfries, our universities or our community events like the Big Burns Supper and Guid Nychburris, we have so much to offer.”
There are seven cities in Scotland: Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth and Stirling.
Mark Jardine, of the People’s Project, said: “I have been seeking to get city status for Dumfries for more than 20 years. It was a dream of mine as a child.
“Since Inverness achieved city status, the whole of the Highland region has gone from strength to strength. I firmly believe that Dumfries and Galloway could do likewise. As ‘Queen of the South’, we really would be the first city in Scotland.”
Several young people from the four high schools in Dumfries – Dumfries High School, Dumfries Academy, North-West Campus and St Joseph’s College – are involved in the bid.
Craig Adams, 16, a sixth-year student from Dumfries High School, is one of the young people involved. He said: “It would be amazing if we won this competition and get this incredible honour from the Queen.”
Abi Kelly, 17, also a sixth-year student from Dumfries High, added: “It would be great for the area and would create new jobs and training opportunities for young people as more companies would want to move to Dumfries.”
It is also expected that several big-name celebrities will lend their support to the bid.
Peter Pan author JM Barrie, British Formula One racing driver David Coulthard and popular music artist/DJ Calvin Harris have all lived in the area. Its most famous former resident is Robert Burns, who spent his final years in Dumfries.
