But although Loreburn Housing Association have lost out on the site earmarked for the project at Maxwelltown Station, two NHS-owned sites are now being quickly lined up as alternatives.
Loreburn development manager Graham Robertson said: “An offer went in before we could make a move.”
Ideas had been developed for allotments, orchards and community facilities such as a small cinema, with Loreburn chief executive Lorraine Usher last month noting lessons were being learned from projects as far away as the Netherlands and Australia.
But Mr Robertson yesterday said: “We’re actively looking for somewhere else to replace that site.”
Suggesting an alternative could be substituted ‘fairly quicky’, he said: “There are two up near the Crichton Campus that we’re keen on – they’re NHS-owned sites, and we’ve had a meeting with the NHS property guy.”
Meanwhile, plans are in place to relocate the Hope Place young person’s supported living service on Galloway Street to Brooms Road.
Looking to the new site, Mr Robertson said: “It’s the former Scottish Power garages in Brooms Road, Dumfries; we’re heading towards a planning application for that.”
He added: “This would be a replacement for a young person’s accommodation we have in Dumfries already.”
Mr Robertson was last week setting out a regionwide strategy to build 350 homes over the next five years, backed by a Scottish Government bid to see 50,000 affordable homes built by 2021.
Projects include a mixed use development of 40 units at College Mains Road in Dumfries, serving general needs as well as support with dementia and elderly accommodation.
Speaking at a meeting of Annan Regeneration Steering Group last week, Loreburn director of operations Amanda Yellowley revealed collaboration with Strathclyde University on the Microsoft white spaces project – which can employ unused TV ‘white space’ to deliver broadband Internet.
Ms Yellowley said: “The idea is that we’ll roll it out to all our tenants, so that all our tenants will have access to the white space on their TVs. We’re trialling that at the moment at Kelloholm.”
