Council receives backlash following decision to approve controversial Stranraer lorry park
There are concerns about how it will impact the town.
Last updated 3rd Jun 2025
Dumfries and Galloway Council is facing backlash for approving controversial plans for a lorry park to be built in Stranraer at East Pier - despite widespread opposition.
The site at the former Stena Port is to be used for three years, but there are concerns about how this will affect the town’s waterfront regeneration – visually and financially - as businesses and locals try to attract visitors, jobs and investment.
Local politicians have described this decision as “disgraceful” and a “hammer blow” to the town’s efforts.
South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth said: “This is a hammer blow to Stranraer’s future. The decision to turn the waterfront into a lorry park is short-sighted and damaging.
“We should be building a destination that brings people into the town, not make it unattractive to them. The waterfront is Stranraer’s biggest asset. Turning a chunk of it into a glorified lorry park sends out a message that we’re not serious about attracting visitors or investment.
“The council talks about regenerating the waterfront as a key visitor destination but then gives the green light to a development that does the exact opposite.
“There are far better locations for a lorry park—like the industrial estate—without trashing the town’s prospects.
“This decision rips up the community’s vision for the waterfront and ignores the ambitions laid out in the Stranraer Place Plan. We owe it to the people of Stranraer to do better than this.”
Galloway and West Dumfries MSP Finlay Carson shares similar views and says, “This flies in the face of what local people have quite clearly tasked the council to deliver for Stranraer.
“To say it will bring jobs and boost the local economy that is without question. But this location is totally inappropriate given the town’s ambition to redevelop the waterfront. It will do nothing to revive the town’s fortunes.
“I don’t believe there will be many who want to see HGVs back in the centre of Stranraer.
He added: "Just when things were beginning to look brighter for the town after years of neglect and under-investment, some councillors think a lorry park is the way ahead. I simply cannot fathom the reasoning behind this.”
“I will be looking into how this decision was taken and what potential there is for it to be challenged. The people of Stranraer deserve better.”
We have asked the council to comment.