Lockerbie High Street Regeneration Wins Scottish Award for Quality in Planning

Dumfries and Galloway Council has won a prestigious Scottish Award for Quality in Planning for its Lockerbie High Street regeneration project. This is one of the Scottish Government’s most esteemed awards, celebrating achievements in planning, from high-level visions to development on the ground.
The Council has won one of only four awards in the Development on the Ground category. This category includes any developments and outcomes which relate to planning policy, improving the built environment, regenerating a local area, or having a positive impact on the community.
Lockerbie High Street regeneration focused on improving the public space in the town centre. The Judges of this award felt that the outcome is transformational to the traditional market town and has brought the community together around a central theme of place and local identity.
The judges said they were “truly inspired” by this project and appreciated how this town centre project demonstrated the impact that a small change – done well – could unlock people’s aspirations for their home town. They said: “The attention to detail to create high quality sculptures, reflective of the local area and its history, together with de-cluttering of the central traffic junction has transformed Lockerbie High Street. As a result, this modest scheme has turned into a local ‘trail blazer’ which has not only won ‘hearts and minds’ but has set the standards for design and community engagement.”
They went on to say: “The result has been increased interest, and demand, for more civic changes throughout Dumfries and Galloway. This would not have been achieved, however, without the leadership shown by the local authority throughout the project, as well as investing their in-house professional and financial resources into the project, to ensure it was successfully delivered on the ground.”
The judging panel undertook a site visit to Lockerbie on the 23 June, where the Council made a presentation giving the context of the project and allowing the panel to ask questions about the design and delivery processes. Final judging took place following the completion of site visits relevant to all of the applications and the official announcement of the Award was made at a ceremony on the 10 November 2015.
The masterplan for delivering the Lockerbie project included the Council working in close collaboration with the local community, Community Council, schools, local trader’s, larger businesses and wider stakeholders. It explored key themes, including people, enterprise, regeneration and Urban Design.
Councillor Craig Peacock, Vice Chair of the Economy, Environment and infrastructure Committee said: “I would like to congratulate and thank everyone who was involved in developing this project, including the Community of Lockerbie who have really embraced the results of the venture with such enthusiasm.”
“I am delighted that the Council has won such a prestigious award from entries received from across Scotland and sometimes it can take an external eye before people recognise that change can be positive. The work has improved what was a tired public realm in and around the High Street but has done so in a way that provides a new talking point for Lockerbie and recognises the history of the town”.
“One of our priorities is to build the local economy and one way to help achieve that is to try to improve the look of our town centres to make them an attractive location to do business. Most of these projects are challenging at the time and it can be a few years later before the benefits are recognised”.