Coldstream Place Planning Workshop

"The town is family friendly and safe with atmosphere"

The locals talk to you. The food larder and care home are important for families and older people. We have history. And the Coldstream Guards.

Coldstream is beautiful with the river, and good places to ride. You can hear the owls. It is full of open space, different walks, fresh air and space for the dogs. Farming and nature are important here with special places, like Dundock wood, with the old tree and frog. We can make dens in the woods, create our own play spaces. And, there are Highland cows in the Hirsel!

We have nice shops, a good Keystore and Sweetie Shop Henderson Park is great, the viewpoint in particular. We really like the Laughing Ducks soft play. We also have a golf course, but not everyone knows its there. In school, we have lots of space to run, a big place for everyone to play. But, we need the goalposts back, so the big space feels less open.

We don ’t like school, because it’s school. We want things there to make it fun. But, there ’s not enough teachers. They keep leaving for better jobs

Borders General Hospital is 45 minut es away. It ’s a lo ng w alk to the Medical; Centre, up an incline. There is no college or university in Berwi cks h ire . Services need support The town is handy for Berwick, Kelso, Duns and Edinburgh. But, we are worried that buses are being cut back. We have slow wifi , and no taxis or ubers . Sports and leisure facilities and the swimming pool are in different towns. It can be hard to get there without a car, and you don’t always have a lift.

Teenagers are vaping, creating rubbish, and graffiti . There is swearing. They are breaking things and wrecking dens. Younger children don’t feel safe and it is all because teenagers are bored. There nothing to do. The after school club has shut down so no trips and no youth clubs. Old people get mad at us . We don’t feel welcome to play outside. People are lovely but “some could be better”

The town got rid of the old play park. There is Fireburnmill, but there’s not much there and rusty equipment. Other than the main park the other parks have had no investment including the school playground We worry that woods being chopped down and no new trees. Sometimes, you can hear gunfire from hunting.

How do we stop people to encourage visiting, shopping and more attractions? There is no thing there are Market square. We think the buildings need to be done up like Dunkeld with food and dining and shops . The old Police Station has been empty 5+ years. We have no restaurant , and shops close early on Monday and Saturday afternoons. And the prices of everything keep going up.

Road crossings are needed to improve road safety. The High Street feels narrow and oppressive, and the streetscape is scruffy. Traffic is too fast. There are no cameras and too much High Street traffic, especially lorries and agricultural traffic. There are parking restrictions, but they aren’t enforced. They lack control. It is a busy rush hour, and pavements are broken with vandalism and dog poo.

“ Create something for teenagers to do"

We want a place with no stealing, swearing, drugs, smoking, wasting food, littering, spitting out chewing gum, bad drinks, baby with scissors, littering in the River Tweed, being silly in the park, getting drunk, lighters in hands of the young and no knives or guns.

We need places to meet, places to chat & eat that aren’t the pub for young people and families. We want more restaurants serving other countries’ food and not just pub culture and hard drinking dens. We want an Italian, and great pizzas, but no pineapple!

So, create a teenager cafe, develop the after school club. Improve the small play park at Duns Road. Provide monkey bars, a MUGA and a play park in school playground. And, provide more sports space. Build an Astroturf pitch. Create a Gaming Zone, with table top RPG and board games for all ages and more things you can do for free . Provide access to somewhere to do gymnastics , a dance club, boxing club and training facilities for baseball and rugby.

“ Children want to be included in community"

Create a new running track in the woods with a community garden, and places where we have lots of trees and don’t chop down any. Maybe we could grow food in school grounds for families?

Ivy near the bridge needs to be cleared. We would like an animal shelter for injured animals not where they can be scared. Develop our nature walks. We could use an existing path to show where to look to see things, planting more fruit trees and fruit bushes and more flowers, with an eco meeting zone to watch birds and animals in the woods. And, provide more stuff for dogs.

Lets create more summer Fairs. And longer summer holidays! We could have a medieval fayre, learn how to make weapons and reconstruct fighting, things like what they have at Wark castle

“ Create more things to help learn history"

Childcare is expensive and difficult to find. If this could be sorted would make things easier to afford. We need easy more access to a dentist and doctor, and services for older people like a bank and optician. These things are currently in Kelso buts it’s difficult for people to get to. Support services with more flats and affordable houses, and some bigger homes. Make old Police Station into flats. More a care homes in the town Develop the industrial park and create more good jobs.

Make it attractive. We would like a cinema , maybe a drive through, and more events maybe a popup cinema, or a school in the woods. We could use the school during the holidays as an education resource, with maybe a swimming, a pool with waves, or a water park.

Develop tourism. Provide more Bed and breakfast places and hotels . And a welcoming arch at the entrance to the town. Turn the old Police Station into a cycle hub or a bunkhouse. Move Co-op to the lorry park or opposite the caravan park. Create access to more shops - with a shopping centre. And, create more access to cheap food to feed the family maybe in a Community shop?

We need more buses to get us where we want to go, more access to airports to connect to the rest of the world. And a scooter park . So, develop transport. Provide more bike racks. And a better car wash.

“ We want safer places to walk , and more car parking"

If you would like to learn more about Coldstream's community developing a Local Place Plan, to feedback or get involved please contact

 chairman.coldstreamcc@gmail.com