AN AMBITIOUS plan to reimagine and upgrade many of the features in Moffat’s Station Park has been presented to the local community.
Moffat and District Community Council (MDCC) this week shared their masterplan for the popular town centre greenspace.
The designs were drawn up following community consultation events between 2017 and 2019, at which locals put forward suggestions for improvements, repairs and new ideas for the area.
Amongst the proposals included in the masterplan – which can be viewed in full by following a link posted on the community council’s Facebook page – are improvements to the park’s main entrance and adjacent public toilets, with suggestions including painting the facility and planting climbing plants along its walls.
Furthermore, installing an alternative to the bedding plants currently in Station Park – which the community council has said “keep being reduced” due to maintenance costs – is also proposed. This will include introducing “ornamental annual seed mix in a strip along bank between two paths”.
In addition, community councillors have put forward the idea for a new western double-gate entrance with wheelchair access and upgraded, themed railings around the park’s perimeter, which is said could be inspired by “station heritage, children’s play, wildlife and boating”.
Repurposing the iconic pavilion, described recently as “the jewel in the crown of Station Park” by MDCC, also form part of the masterplan. Having had a fresh lick of paint and exterior restoration work carried out earlier this year, the focus is now on the inside of the 20th century listed building — of which a “new use” is to be explored, with suggestions including a cafe, interpretation centre, museum and outreach point.
Conifers around the picnic area are due to be replaced with ornamental deciduous trees and a native wildflower meadow with the aim of improving surroundings at the park’s snacking spot.
Proposals also include removing silt and gravel from the bottom of the boating pond, installing new edging and exploring options to introduce new facilities, which could comprise “steps for DDA accessible boats” and “a curling sheet for winter use when pond is drained”. Native wildflower meadows will also be planted on the pond’s islands .
And designs also incorporate a new boardwalk and bandstand by the park’s north pond, with the latter feature to be themed around a train station waiting room and decorated with railway memorabilia.
Across the park, footpaths are to be improved and “attractive trees” will be planted “in the form of an arboretum”.
Several other recommendations for Station Park are detailed in the masterplan, which can be viewed in full online or on the MDCC noticeboard between Annandale Hotel and the Town Hall.
