Arbroath MP Stephen Gethins and Town Board Chairman Peter Stirling recently journeyed to London to deliver Arbroath Town Plan to key decision-makers.
Community at the Heart of the Plan
The 10-year vision is the direct result of extensive community engagement. Over 800 individuals, including a significant number of young people, contributed their ideas and aspirations. This produced 2,105 comments and ideas and represents the largest community feedback from Arbroath residents for any town plan in decades.
Securing the Funding
The Labour government’s recent fiscal warnings have raised concerns about the availability of the funds. However, Our Arbroath Town Board are determined to do all that they can to try and secure the promised investment. To strengthen their case, they have scheduled a meeting with Communities Minister Alex Norris on November 4th to discuss the plan in detail.
Mr Gethins said: “These plans for Arbroath are incredibly exciting and could lead to some important investments in the town.
“It has been fantastic to see the way in which the town really got behind these proposals by the board and engaged with the consultation process.
“Peter’s leadership has been important and we have a fantastic board bringing in a wide range of colleagues from Arbroath. But it has been the wider community engagement that has made a huge difference.
“We have made the case for investment, as has been promised by the UK Government, and we will continue to make the case until that commitment has been delivered.
“Everyone is pulling together and we’ll do it when we meet the Minister next week too.”
Chair, Peter Stirling, said;
“I was especially pleased with our engagement with the town’s secondary schools resulting in over 350 pupils writing to us with their hopes and ambitions for Arbroath.
“The public feedback has been the largest response to a new Arbroath town plan in decades.
“Our long-term town plan is a faithful representation of what the people of Arbroath want and hope for.
“I’d like to thank Stephen for all his support and taking the initiative and inviting me to Westminster to press the case and submit our document to the UK Government.
“I’d also thank my board who have worked incredibly hard to achieve what we have done in such a short space of time and of course the people of Arbroath who have shown their passion and desire to fix the town’s problems and see it thrive again.”
