CONSULTANTS hope as many Peebles people as possible will visit a series of meetings designed to inform ‘A Plan for Peebles’, a meeting heard.

The drop-ins, pop-ups and a workshop, from April 29 to May 16, are part of the Scottish Government placemaking scheme which involves communities in how their towns develop in the future.

To collect some of that information Scottish Borders Council (SBC) has appointed Glasgow architectural consultants New Practice to hold the Peebles meetings.

Earlier this month designer/architects Barbara Vecchione and Rose McKiernan, from New Practice, told a meeting of Peebles Community Council (PCC): “The meetings are to bring people into the decision-making process.

“We have been working with SBC for about three months to launch the consultation scheme building on the work of Peebles Placemaking Team which has a raft of proposals.

“Building on the Peebles Town Action Plan first draft, shared with us by the Peebles Placemaking Team and available on the Scottish Borders Council website, this consultation will look at stress-testing the initiatives brought forward to gather feedback from the public and key stakeholders, and to investigate whether there are any gaps in the initial findings and proposals.”

Peebles Placemaking Team has key partners in the town including Peebles Civic Society, PCC and Peebles Community Trust.

PCC chairman Peter Maudsley praised all the work done so far and said: “It might be worth touching on where we are with town placemaking.

“It is all down to Crick Carleton who is an expert in this area with a background as an international economics consultant.”

New Practice has catalogued the initiatives into Four Streams – a fair community; sustainable growth; getting around; and open for business.

PCC member Gill Macdonald said: “We want as many people as possible to get involved in these meetings and hope the consultants can tap into unheard voices and people from whom we never hear.”

The meeting was told that at a recent talk at Peebles U3A with 50 to 60 people only 30 per cent had heard of the community council.

The following events, at which all are welcome, are planned: Drop-ins: School Brae Hub on Saturday, May 18 from 4pm to 6.30pm; at the Drill Hall Lounge on Tuesday (April 30) from 2.30 to 4.30pm and the following day, (Wednesday, May 1) from 4pm to 6pm.

There are pop-ups planned for Wednesday (May 1) at Tesco from 12pm to 2pm and Saturday, May 18, in the High Street from 11.30am to 2pm.

The “in-depth” community workshop is at School Brae Hub on Thursday, May 16, from 6pm to 8pm and pre-registration is required on the website at: www.aplanforpeebles.co.uk

In addition it is hoped there will be a meeting at Peebles Foodbank for its clients.