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Town group calls for park action

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By Fiona Reid
Front
Town group calls for park action

FEELINGS were running high at Lockerbie Community Council on Tuesday night over the lack of action on McJerrow Park.

The revamp of the town’s flagship park was due to be done by this summer – and members are frustrated and disappointed at the delays and lack of feedback from Dumfries and Galloway Council.

They met with council officials over a month ago and progress and updates were promised, but nothing has been heard since.

At that meeting, they were also told the park work will be done by the middle of the year.

Vice chairman Ian McLatchie is trying to stay positive, but said: “Everyone was that excited about it and now it’s just the same, here we go again.

“It’s frustrating, it’s 36 months down the line, maybe more, since this started.

“But, at the moment my glass is half full, not half empty.”

The idea for revamping McJerrow Park came out of the town’s action plan, developed between the now defunct steering group and consultants.

However, the project is now under the auspices of the community council since the steering group collapsed.

Mr McLatchie said: “Folk were getting disheartened on the steering group, we were not moving forward with anything.”

Member Bud Little added: “You will not regenerate the steering group, there’s only the community council left because we deal with Lockerbie as a whole.

“We are sitting here no further forward than we were three years ago.

“It would be nice to achieve something and finish something and then we would get more support.”

Meanwhile, chairwoman J’an Andrews revealed that they are being asked to reapply for money originally allocated to the park plan by Dumfries and Galloway Council last January.

She said: “We had done all the work. Ian worked hard. Nothing was happening then we got another letter in November telling us to reapply. This was the same money we had already been given last January.

“I’m angry about this, something is not right there.”

She added: “This has gone back and forward. It’s disappointing here we are three years later after spending £10,000 on a consultant.

“We are going to continue and we are trying to chase it up but not getting feedback, it’s that that is disappointing people.

“We are trying and we are all volunteers, for the community

“Officials talk the talk but have not walked the walked with it. It’s a bit of a knockback.”

Annandale North Councillor Stephen Thompson agreed to look into the matter.

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