Recent activity around proposed developments in Darnick has highlighted the strength of feeling within the village to possible changes, which the village trust now wants to harness to produce a Community Action Plan.
Objections to Scottish Borders Council’s Proposed Local Development Plan to include new housing in the grounds of Darnlee and the desire by local developers to build on the former rugby field at Darnick Vale showed how strongly villagers felt about development proposals.
The Darnick Village Development Trust would now like to use that energy to draw up a Community Action Plan to present to the council, highlighting the residents’ own priorities for the village and encourage the council to adopt its recommendations when considering future development ideas.
The first step is to gather the views of Darnick residents at a public meeting on Thursday 26th October, at 7.30pm, in the Smith Memorial Hall. Everyone in Darnick is invited to come along and share their ideas for Darnick, no matter how big or small those ideas might be.
Angie Stormont, Chair of DVDT, said: “The Trust has been considering for some time the possibility of writing a plan and the recent activity around the proposed local development plan shows the potential changes facing the village and the views of villagers to those changes.
“We feel it is important we now develop a plan to present to Scottish Borders Council, which could allay fears for the future and highlight the priorities for the village as identified by the residents. The plan isn’t a guarantee that activities will or won’t happen, but it informs the council about what the local community would like to see happen.
“However, for the plan to have credibility it is important it reflects villagers’ views, so we do need people to engage with us and help us produce the document, so I would urge people to come along to the meeting in October.”
Have your say in Darnick’s future
