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GoFundMe to raise 5% of purchase price

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We hoped that the Bank of Scotland might assist the community purchase by agreeing a discount on the purchase price but they have declined. The Initiative therefore needs to raise about £8000 to complete the purchase (£6,000 to complete the purchase valuation price and £2,000 for legal and additional purchase costs).

WBCI has set up a GoFundMe web page to request donations to help raise this amount. Without this final amount of money we cannot complete the purchase of the building.

Please donate to support us and pass one the link below via Social Media, email or whatever means you can think of to encourage others to do the same.

https://www.gofundme.com/wigtownbankbuilding

Posted in 21 North Main Street |

Wigtown area Housing Needs Survey – Update

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The Dumfries & Galloway Small Communities Housing Trust (DGSCHT) have advised us that 58 responses have been received so far in response to the online and paper survey.  More responses would be welcome, so please encourage your friends and neighbours to pop online via our this website or paper copies of the survey are available from Machars Action, where they should be returned after completion.

Over the next few weeks DGSCHT will be working with us to talk to local organisations and groups to get feedback from them on housing needs, and will also be running drop in sessions for anyone to attend to ask questions and have an opportunity to provide feedback.

Details will be provided in the local press and on posters and flyers distributed around Wigtown and Bladnoch.

Posted in Projects |

Stage one funding from the Scottish Land Fund

Updated on date by author

The Scottish Government’s Scottish Land Fund has awarded Wigtown & Bladnoch Community Initiative stage one funding from the Scottish Land Fund.  The money is for developing detailed proposals for the community to buy the former Bank of Scotland building in Wigtown. It adds to a grant from the Rural Housing Fund to look into needs for housing in Wigtown and Bladnoch, and to consider how the former bank could provide affordable housing options.

The building is now for sale, and we have a registered community interest which gives us until December to complete plans and put funding in place.  Local architect, Hazel Smith, and two consultancy companies – Community Enterprise, and Dumfries & Galloway Small Communities’ Housing Trust – have been brought in to provide design expertise, and support with community engagement and business planning.

We will be arranging meetings in the new few weeks to hear what local organisations, groups and residents think, what people would like to see, and what they are worried about.

All residents within the area of Wigtown and Bladnoch will have the opportunity to vote to determine whether the former Bank becomes a community owned asset in July and we will be encouraging everyone to have their say.  Posters, flyers and other information will be displayed and posted around Wigtown and Bladnoch over the coming few weeks.

Posted in 21 North Main Street, Projects |
Old Showfield Wigtown 3b Application Plan

NEW Planning Application Submitted by 3b

Updated on date by author

3b have submitted a new planning application of the Old Showfield, which is for the same number of houses as the previous application, and looks to be exactly the same.

Full details of the application can be found on the Council’s planning website at: https://www.dumgal.gov.uk/planning Click on the option to SEARCH PLANNING APPLICATIONS and after confirming acceptance of the terms and conditions use the following application code to find the full details: 18/0149/FUL

3b Construction proposes to build 43 houses with associated roads, parking, landscaping, etc. Their earlier application was refused due to lack of submission of some supplementary information. They have now re-submitted, the same proposal, but with a little more detail on elevations and large vehicle access; there is still very little information on the affordable housing element.

The Library should have a copy of the application as well. D&G Council will make a decision about this application in the next few months.
Anyone is entitled to have their say about this.

Speak to your D&GC Councillors.
Write to the Planning Department by March 14th at planning@dumgal.gov.uk or
Planning Dept., D&G Council, Kirkbank, English Street, Dumfries DG1 2HS.

Posted in Projects, Showfield |

3b Showfield Application Submitted

Updated on date by author

3b Construction have submitted a formal application for planning permission at the Old Showfield.

3b Construction proposes to build 43 houses with associated roads, parking,
landscaping, etc.

Details of the application can be found on line www.dumgal.gov.uk/planning
use the “search planning applications” link, and enter reference: 17/1984/FUL.
The Library should have a copy of the application as well. D&G Council will
make a decision about this application in the next few months.
Anyone is entitled to have their say about this.
Speak to your D&GC Councillors.

Write to the Planning Department by December 7th planning@dumgal.gov.uk or
Planning Dept., D&G Council, Kirkbank, English Street, Dumfries DG1 2HS.

Posted in Projects, Showfield |

3b Showfield Application Update

Updated on date by author

The Royal Burgh of Wigtown Community Council decided to make no submission in regard to 3b planning
application at their meeting on Monday 8th Jan 2018.

The deadline for public submissions has now passed. 16 individual objections have been lodge via the comments and formal documents process.

Other statutory opinions still coming in to the Planning Authority. D&G Council Planning Applications Committee will consider application in
due course.

3b were requested to supply additional information on four areas by D&G Planning:

  1. The detail of the site sections provided:
  2. Details of Cut and Fill on the site:
  3. Vehicle tracking for the site for refuse vehicles:
  4. Affordable Housing proposal and provision thereof.
Posted in Projects, Showfield |

Register of Community Interest Confirmed for Old Bank of Scotland

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Just before Christmas we received official notification from the Scottish Ministers that they had decided that the community’s interest in the former Bank of Scotland branch in Wigtown should be entered into the Register of Community Interests in Land. The Bank of Scotland had been given the opportunity to submit views on our application but, as they had chosen not to, the Scottish Ministers considered that this meant that they had no objections to it.

Nothing more can happen until the Bank of Scotland formally notifies the Scottish Government that they want to sell the building, at which time the community’s right to buy will be triggered and W&BCI will be given first refusal. W&BCI will then have at least six months in which to work up detailed proposals for the building to satisfy both the Scottish Ministers on the sustainability of the plans and the Scottish Land Fund who could provide up to 95% of an independent valuation of the Bank building and land.

Posted in 21 North Main Street, Projects |

Community Interest Application Accepted

Updated on date by author
The Scottish Government has accepted the community interest in the Old Showfield.   This does not mean that we can go ahead with our plans for the site, only that if the current owners, 3B decide to sell the site then the community has the first refusal to purchase it at current market value.
Our interest in the land will be registered for 5 years. Watch this space…
Posted in Showfield |

Signatures of support required

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If you live in Wigtown & Bladnoch and support us, please sign the petition at the following venues:

  • The Post Office,
  • Scads,
  • Machars Action,
  • Beltie Books.

The petition DOES NOT make a commitment to buy; it only seeks to establish the right to buy. If the property was made available for sale, a full community consultation and ballot would be required for WBCI to proceed with an actual purchase.

Please note this is a statement of your support, and NO financial commitment is required.

Wigtown & Bladnoch Community Initiative is a community led company limited by guarantee that is proposing to apply to register a community interest in 21 North Main Street Wigtown. This would give the community first option to purchase the property if it was put on the market.

Posted in 21 North Main Street |