West Linton Open Areas Group

West Linton Open Areas group was set up by the West Linton Community Council and is responsible for collating thoughts and aspirations of local people on the provision of outdoor sport and recreation space in the village for all residents. Active members of the group include Kenny Love and Tommy Davidson from the Community Council, Chris Tate, Colin Gambles, Gerry McLachlan, Edward Craig, Steve Whalley and Richard White, who between them have strong connections with youngsters' football and rugby as well as Primary School Parent Council and many other groups in the village. More support is always welcome, please contact any of the above or email us.

The recently issued West Linton Local Plan Amendment proposes to add a further 40 houses in the Robinsland area of the village without any commitment to increase the play space available. Over the years West Linton has lost football and hockey pitches, and now has approximately 25% of playing field space compared to 40 years ago for a population more than double the size. The proposed new school provides a golden opportunity to begin to reverse that trend, and Scottish Borders Council need to know that we want that to happen.

You can see the proposed Plan Amendment here, and here is a template letter that you can modify to show Scottish Borders Council how much it means to have good quality recreation space in the village. Deadline for responses is 27th November, so please act now.

You can download the SBC plan PDF which covers West Linton here.

You can send your letter by ordinary post or attach it by email to

localplan@scotborders.gov.uk

or

ped@scotborders.gov.uk (PED stands for planning and economic development)

Update (March 2010): The planners of the new Primary School project have now had preliminary meetings with both the Parent Council and the Community Council.  The planners presented the Community Council with two options for the school; with the school being either to the South or North. Generally, those present at the Community Council meeting seemed to be in favour of the school being built to the South.  The minutes will give a flavour of the discussions that were had. The architect is Jeremy Snodgrass, the project managers are Steve Renwick and Chris Virtue.

The time frame is, as expected, a tight one. There will be a community presentation by the planners in the near future, details will follow once arranged. If you have comments on these two options please contact the planners direct on christopher.virtue@turntown.co.uk   SRenwick@scotborders.gov.uk JSnodgrass@scotborders.gov.uk please copy your comments to West Linton Open Areas west-linton-outdoor-areas@west-linton.org.uk

(MUGA stands for Multi Use Games Area on these plans).

There are updates on the new school plans from Scottish Borders Council here.