Recently, we were contacted by Stuart McFarlane of the Dumfries and Galloway Standard for a response to the concerns of Loreburn Community Council. Our Chairperson Dr A Zieleniec provided the following response.
FAO Stuart McFarlane
Dumfries and Galloway Standard
5th June 2019 Dear Stuart
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to respond to the concerns of Loreburn Community Council. We acknowledge the views of the LCC however, we do not believe that their views are representative of the wider community. Many families from all over D&G contributed to the consultation and to the 4 days we exhibited the plans in October last year giving us their overwhelming support. We have responded to your questions raised at LCC below.
LACK OF OPENNESS
LCC had a committee member involved in the original Working Group from an early stage in 2017 during the consultation process. This individual was not always able to attend but were always copied into notes from meeting and an Update Report and Newsletter forwarded to LCC in May 2018. On two occasions a Trustee has attended LCC meetings to update the committee – in May 2018 and April 2019. We were delighted when LCC provided £100 funding towards an event in the park in summer 2018.
WHY CATHERINE STREET During June/July 2017, the Council did a consultation to decide which of 6 parks in Dumfries would receive a share of monies they had ring-fenced to develop an inclusive play park. While Dock Park got the largest number of votes, Catherine Street was the park chosen by many families affected by disability.
- CONSULTATION WITH NEIGHBOURS
We started our consultation with 2 neighbourhood Meetings which took place on 31/03/17 and 01/04/17 after posting invitations through the doors of 250 neighbours in the streets around Catherine St. 8 people came over the 2 days. - We then did a series of play days in the park with children and families between May and Nov 2017 to ask what changes people wanted made to the park.
- During 2018 we worked on a design for the park and exhibited the plans over 4 days in October 2018. During that week we again posted invitations to a neighbourhood meeting on 24/10/18 through the doors of 250 neighbours around Catherine St. The chair of LCC came to this meeting.
COMMUNITY SUPPORT FOR THE LEASE
Please find attached 63 messages of support from individuals who contacted us over a 3 day period at the end of May to support the lease and the development at Catherine Street. With the agreement of these individuals, these messages of support have been sent to Elected Members but have been anonymised to forward to you.
Regards Dr A Zieleniec Chair ‘Include Us’ Catherine Street Inclusive Play Park & Community Garden
