Future Innerleithen

On behalf of the Future Innerleithen team I would like to thank the 500+ residents who came to the Community Event on Saturday 13th June to state their priorities for the needs of Innerleithen. There was a lot of lively discussion and considered thinking before each resident marked their 6 top priority needs. We will now analyse these results and publish a Community Action plan soon with a copy going to every house in Innerleithen, Traquair and Glen. Having gone through this democratic process we are now well placed with solid facts to establish separate projects to deliver solutions for these top priority needs. The process we used was provided by Colin Roxburgh, STAR consultancy and funded by the Big Lottery and by Scottish Borders Council. Future Innerleithen carried out this study on behalf of the Innerleithen Community Trust.

We will provide on-going reports on the progress we are making with each project and there will be further public events where various design options and their locations will be displayed and again residents can vote for their preferred option. More information can be found at the Future Innerleithen web site – www.futureinnerleithen.org.uk or by contacting Brian McCrow on brian@mccrow.co.uk

We were also well entertained during the day by the St Ronan’s primary singers, the Beggar Girls, the Fortissimo Choir and local guitarists TurboShandy. There were face painters, a bouncy castle and a trio of skateboarders demonstrating their skills in the car park. Many local groups had stalls in the hall and we were well fed by volunteers from the Innerleithen Tennis club. There was a Prize draw with excellent prizes from local organisations such as Caddon View B&B, Traquair House, Smail’s Printing Works, Cider House, Coop, The Whistle Stop café and Carole Collin.

I would like to thank the Future Innerleithen Steering group for their dedication and hard work and the many volunteers who delivered to and collected the survey forms from every house. I’d also like to thank the many groups within Innerleithen who took time out to be interviewed by Future Innerleithen.

Thank you, Innerleithen, Traquair and Glen, we will have a Bright Future.