Place Programme

Supporting Scottish Borders residents to develop action plans for their communities

Naomi Sweeney

4 February 2025

What is the Place Programme?

"The Place Programme is a call to action. An opportunity for communities to have a say on what is happening in their place, influence decisions and help create a plan for the future."

The Place Programme supports the changing mentality of local and national government around how investment and policy are developed and delivered, by moving from a traditional "top down" approach to a community led model - where decisions are based on the lived experience of residents, businesses and visitors within the Borders.

This requires active participation from community groups and elected members, and must be supported by the local authority, as well as Community Planning Partners and South of Scotland agencies to ensure that community led action is representative of the entire community - this is called Place Making.

What is Place Making?

Place Making is a process designed to collectively inspire communities to rethink and reinvent public spaces to enhance the public realm in their area.

This can be buildings or open space and infrastructure, but the main goal is to improve the connections between people and the places they share.

Place Making also contributes to capturing the social and cultural identities of a community - informing creative thinking about the changing needs for all stakeholders.

Where do we start?

Place Making requires active participation of community members and stakeholders to be truly useful in understanding the ideas and aspirations of a place, so we need as many voices as possible to stand up and be heard, and contribute to the conversation.

This means bringing together community, and understanding what is already happening in a place, who is working on what, and how it can be supported and developed to help that community make their place the best that it can be.

Capturing this information is done through the development of Local Place Plans.

What is a Local Place Plan?

This is essentially an action plan which is developed by the community to capture their ideas and aspirations for their place. It is supported by Community Planning Partners and local government, brings together stakeholders in that community to direct investment into projects and initiatives identified by the people who know best what is wanted and needed in their area - the people that live and work there. The community members that come together to develop a Plan for their community are generically referred to as a "Town Team".

Further information on Local Place Plans

Further information on Town Teams

How do I get involved?

Under the Scottish Borders Place Programme there has been a lot of interest in the potential of Place Making, and some ground work with Area Partnerships and community groups to identify demand.

As a community led programme a number of different approaches are being taken by localities to promote and support community groups and residents to get involved.

Universally an "opt in" system is being adopted - meaning that all communities that wish to embark on developing a plan will be supported to do so.

Communities are defining their own geographies by defining clusters, and moving at their own pace.

Communities that have currently noted interest in developing a Local Place Plan are noted below.

Follow the link to your communities page to see what is happening in your area.

Communities

If your community is not currently listed, and you would like your place to be involved, please get in touch with communityengagement@scotborders.gov.uk.