Grangemouth community demand 'less consulting, more action' from Falkirk Council

The draft of a new masterplan for Grangemouth will now go to public consultation but the public want to see changes soon
Falkirk Council chiefs say they have heard 'loud and clear' that people in Grangemouth want them to 'stop consulting and start doing'.
Members of Falkirk Council's executive agreed this week to launch a consultation on a new 'spatial vision and masterplan' that they hope will guide the transformation of the town over the next 20 years.
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Officers say the plan has been developed to tackle some of the key challenges currently affecting local residents, such as the closure of shops and businesses and a lack of high quality, family housing.
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But councillors made clear that Grangemouth cannot wait for change and that they want to see 'shovels in the ground' as soon as possible.
Falkirk Council's head of growth, Michael McGuinness, told the meeting that he recognised that there have been a number of consultation exercises with the community in the last few years.
"In engaging with our community, the feedback we've had is 'stop consulting, start doing'," he said.
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"They want to see changes happening in Grangemouth - that's a real concern."
But Mr McGuinness said he believes that the draft plan they are now consulting on "will give us a really strong blueprint for allowing that change to happen".
The main aims are:
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Make the town centre easier to walk and cycle around by improving paths and connections.
Develop new housing in and around the town centre to bring more people into the area.
Attract new businesses by offering better spaces and supporting mixed-use developments.
Improve public spaces with more green areas, seating, and landscaping.
As the industry in Grangemouth begins to transition away from fossil fuel-led businesses, the hope is that local people will start to see some of the benefits from an array of investment programmes, strategies and policies that have been introduced.
Officers say that a masterplan is vital to pull together and oversee all of the changes that will inevitably affect the town over the next few years.
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But councillors questioned officers on the value of another consultation - which will cost £70,000.
Director of Place Services, Malcolm Bennie, said the document would be crucial to attract funding for the ambitious plans that are being laid and make sure that everything happens "in a considered, planned way".
Conservative councillor James Bundy asked how long it would take to see "shovels in the ground", once the final version of the document is ready.
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Mr McGuinness said that some projects are already ready to get underway as part of the Greener Grangemouth programme, which has funding from UK and Scottish Governments through the area's Growth Deal.
"This masterplan leads directly to that so we'd expect to see some shovels in the ground next year but what scale is still to be determined."
But Mr McGuinness did admit that masterplans were essentially a longterm commitment that can take "decades" to come to fruition and that funding will be a significant factor.
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"Our objective is to accelerate that as much as possible and bring forward as much investment into the town centre as we possibly can," he said.
"This gives us a tremendous blueprint to do that."
Councillors agreed that officers should progress with engagement on the draft masterplan.
Once complete, the executive will be asked to approve the final version of the masterplan.

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