Death of a market town?

What is going to happen to Castle Douglas? Will we lose our 'Mart' - livestock market- and get another supermarket instead? Has the Tesco plan ushered in an era of unplanned development? Or will Dumfries and Galloway Council manage to slam the lid back on?

By rejecting the move of the Garden Centre from the Tesco site (expected to open April 2006) , a wave of popular protest has been unleashed. 3600 people have signed a petition asking the Council to reconsider and an appeal is to be made to the Scottish executive.

But if you read through the arguments against relocation- see

http://rpu.dumgal.gov.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/committee_reports/008966.pdf

the fear is that if teh grden Centre is allowed to move, this would create a precedent for further developments out of town towards the A 75. Wallets Mart have been in Castle Douglas since the 1850ies. As well as the Mart site besdie the Market Hill , they also own fields around the town. These date back to the days when livestock had to be walked to market and kept overnight before being sold.

If Wallets can get these fields re-zoned for housing and sell their Mart site for retail use, Castle Douglas would become 'suburbanised'.

All that is really holding the process back is lack of sewage capacity- but this is set to change over the next few years, once Scottish Water's 2006- 2014 investment strategy kicks in.

By showing that planning policies don't apply to big developments, Tesco have set in motion economic overdevelopment processes which will destroy all that is unique about Castle Douglas.

The following letter published in the loal Galloway News on 14 July 2005 attempts to explain this...


Dear Sir,

the planning process is like an iceberg.. High profile planning decisions, like the Castle Douglas Garden Centre one, are only the tip of the iceberg. Its main bulk lies beneath the surface in a mass of documents like the Stewartry Local Plan, which in turn are based on a raft of National Planning Policy Guidelines and Planning Advice Notes which interpret relevant Acts of Parliament. Altogether it is an incredibly complicated structure. Unfortunately, thanks to Scottish Water, the planning system is also in a state of chaos.

Across Dumfries and Galloway and throughout Scotland, Local Plans are in limbo. Local Plans give specific details of where house building and other developments can take place. These in turn can only be built if Scottish Water invest in upgrading water and sewage services for the new developments. Scottish Water's 2000 to 2006 investment strategy failed to take such proposed developments into account. The result has been a planning 'log-jam'. Five years after the first draft Local Plans were proposed, they are all now subject to a Public Inquiry.

Looking at the situation in Castle Douglas, the Scottish Water problem has created planning chaos. Large scale developments, like the Ernespie Road housing, health centre and supermarket ones, have gone ahead even though they were not included in the original Local Plan. A key factor here is that the developers have agreed with Scottish Water to pay for an upgrade of the local sewage system. By allowing these developments, the impression has been created that planning is now a free for all driven by economic clout rather than local need..

Reading between the lines of the Planning Officer's Report on the Garden Centre Relocation, it seems an attempt is being made to re-impose order. In particular, reference is made to Wallets Mart's submission to the Public Inquiry into the Stewartry Local Plan. Wallets argue that the Stewartry Showfield (next to the Tesco site) should be 're-zoned' for housing. In their supporting evidence, Wallets also explain that they are looking to relocate their Mart, which would free up a key site within the town for retail and residential use. Viewed in isolation, the relocation of the Garden Centre could be seen as 'natural growth' . But from a planning perspective, this move of an important business would create a precedent for the 'unplanned' expansion of Castle Douglas all the way out to the A 75.

Change is coming. The GVA Grimley retail capacity study commissioned by the Council suggested that the Market Hill become a new town centre in place of King Street. This would go hand in hand with future redevelopment of the Wallets Mart/ Primary School area . But we should never forget that Castle Douglas' heritage is that of a Georgian planned town. Sir William Douglas' legacy is still celebrated during Castle Douglas Civic Week. Sir William's plans for his new town were bold and inspired, even visionary. In planning the future of Castle Douglas, we need to re-affirm Sir William's vision rather than squander his legacy. We need look no further than Dumfries to see what King Street might become. Or as Shelley almost put it 'Look upon the Friars Vennel ye mighty, and despair"'