Concerns voiced over future development of Dumfries Greensands
Many have been outspoken against turning the space into car parking
The Greensands in Dumfries has been at the centre of conversations, after the council’s planning committee discussed developing the space for car parking at a meeting on the 28th of June.
The proposal is inline with a wider Whitesands flood prevention strategy however the phasing discussed, which would allow additional car parking to be put in place in advance of flood defence work, received numerous objections.
The decision to approve the proposal was made after Chairman Jim Dempster used his casting vote to swing a split decision.
Some critics voiced concern that parking would be added, without a direct connection the Whitesands flood defence scheme, which is yet to be put into action.
Others argued there is already enough car parking available in the town, suggesting over development of green spaces will be damaging.
Sally Hinchliffe from Cycling Dumfries read out her objection on behalf of the group at the council meeting, after conducting her own research into the matter: “We found that there is ample space for parking in Dumfries, even when the Whitesands is closed, and that even where parking is tight, adding parking to the Greensands is not the solution that we need.
“In March this year the Fair was here in Dumfries and the Whitesands was closed for parking, and a portion of Brooms Road car park was taken up with Fair vehicles. From the 13th to the 18th of March when the Fair was setting up and when it was in full swing, we surveyed the free spaces, and how many spaces there were in the main car parks in Dumfries town centre.”
Explaining her findings, Ms Hinchcliffe said: “We counted all the free spaces at least twice a day, concentrating on mid morning and early afternoon which were the busiest times of the day.
“Our findings were that although some of the small car parks close to the high street do fill up at those times, there were always some spaces free in Brooms Road both in the long and short stay parts of the car park, despite it being partially taken up by fair vehicles.”
The motion was however approved, with Councillors including Archie Dryburgh in favour of the proposal.
Councillor Dryburgh said: “This was about phasing for the Whitesands flood protection scheme. The planning applications committee is a quasi-judicial committee therefore it is not in anyway political or anything like that.
“The situation with the Greensands is that the planning officer had suggested it was acceptable to do the phasing as was suggested in the recommendations, but the applicant had decided he’d like to change a couple of those conditions.
“I felt it was appropriate to do that because the Whitesands flood prevention scheme has already been through a public enquiry, it went to a higher level than the planning applications committee through the Scottish Government, and they’ve accepted it as a feasible flood prevention scheme.”