Residents' 'three wishes' help create Local Place Plan for Bo'ness

The plan was created with the support of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, which worked with local groups to discover what sort of improvements residents really want to see.

Legislation to develop Local Place Plans was introduced by the Scottish Government in 2020, in a bid to give communities a more active role in planning and shaping their local areas.

The aim is to use national planning priorities alongside local knowledge to create a plan that is meaningful to local people.

Plans can include sites for housing, employment, tourism; improvements to local green spaces, playparks, community facilities or town or local centres; re-use or redevelopment of vacant and derelict sites; and improved path links for walking, cycling and wheeling.

Each local plan details the area’s strengths and challenges, noting the “deep historical roots and strong civic identity” that characterise Bo’ness.

The ‘three wishes’ consultation, which ran for four months, attracted more than 400 replies from drop-in sessions and online survey.

The themes heard time and again included calls for more leisure facilities for children and teens; better public transport; and better access to GPs.

The survey also noted “visible frustration with litter, bin collections and poor maintenance of public areas”.

The legislation encouraging communities to produce LPPs came into effect in 2020 and Bo’ness is the only Falkirk area community to produce one so far.

Pauline Grandison, of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust – which works in former mining areas – said that the charity had seen the legislation “as an opportunity for our communities to really have a voice”.

Having previously worked in Bo’ness to create an action plan for the area, Pauline says they were keen to continue the work.

She said: “The action plans weren’t mandatory but the Local Place Plans really gives communities a proper voice in the planning process to say ‘we want to see things happening in our communities’.”

Developing the plan, the trust worked closely with Bo’ness Community Council although several organisations were also involved.

Wendy Turner, of Bo’ness Community Council, said the Coalfields Regeneration Trust had worked hard with the local community and had been very supportive in creating an excellent local plan, backed up by detailed information.

She acknowledges that it is “sometimes difficult to see the outcomes from those consultations” and that people want to see results.

But with Falkirk Council having recently approved a masterplan for the town, Wendy hopes that there will be a crossover to turn some of the ideas into action.

She said: “This plan has given us the agenda for conversations with Falkirk Council and potentially other funders.”

She hopes it won’t become a document “that sits on someone’s shelf and gets looked at now and again”.

“It’s a great piece of work – the proof of the pudding will be getting some action.”

Bo’ness Local Place Plan is now online. For more information about the projects, please contact [email protected].