1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CATCHING

The Wave

We all share responsibility, day to day, for creating, recreating and sustaining our town in an everchanging world. Place Planning has been embraced positively and energetically by the town as a chance to change the story of Stranraer, and change it together. With a fair wind and a rising tide, it’s time to catch the wave together.

It might seem that the world has not been on our side for a while. The town and the peninsula - the Rhins of Galloway - can feel distant from the municipal heart of the region in Dumfries. Essential services like maternity and health clinics have been taken out of the town causing stress and risk to life for our citizens at their most vulnerable. Locals must journey to Dumfries to access many services. This compounds issues facing people experiencing high levels of poverty and unemployment.

Stena Line pulled their ferries out of Stranraer over a decade ago. The town felt the shock of identity loss, job loss and lower visitor numbers. Ten years on, the abandoned East Pier leaves a desolate gap between the town and the railway station. In 2018, a Dumfries & Galloway report, Reshaping Stranraer, appraised options for the East Pier. It concluded that ‘do nothing’ was not feasible, ‘demolition’ was expensive for little benefit and pointed to ‘Accelerated Development’ as the preferred option. (Like The George Hotel, the costs of development are fundable, usually cheaper and more certainly more promising for the town than demolition.) The report references that Scottish Government set aside £6 million to support economic recovery related to the East Pier and cited a promised £2 million each from Dumfries & Galloway Council and South of Scotland Enterprise. There has been no action at the East Pier and this large, visible space at the entrance to the town is on the Council’s Vacant & Derelict Land Register. We will use the Place Plan to open fresh conversations with all potential funders about their promises and our future. This is a local priority. The Accelerated Development option centred on the expansion of the marina and fixing the Pier to be available as a commercial development site. Stena (the Pier owners) have tried and failed to attract commercial interest. There remains no plan to deal with the East Pier.

The local community believes it is time for action and wants the Council to support investigation into the powers available to drive change. We need to secure this structure for the next 50 years, ensuring strong sea defences and flood protection for Stranraer and dealing with contaminated ground and dereliction.

The Pier dominates conversations about the town’s future but it’s not the only concern.