And a call has been issued for the community to pull together to kickstart improvement work.
While attractive gateways have been created in Gretna and Annan, with sandstone pillars and a makeover to the bridge, works in Lockerbie have ground to a halt.
Renewed footpaths leading to the traffic lights were promised and plans to draw on the town’s curling connections were mooted for the roundabouts near to the Queens and Dryfesdale hotels
Speaking at last week’s Lockerbie Community Council, Annandale North Councillor Gail Macgregor explained momentum has all but stopped since regeneration officer Don Taylor left his post within the local authority at the end of last year.
And she said: “If you don’t start to pull all the different groups together you end up with everybody with different projects.
“However, if you can bring the groups and businesses together it gives the council a contact to speak to.
“We can get a list of priorities drawn up for what people want.
“If you don’t have that list, if you don’t have these people together, then we will still be sitting here saying the same things in five years time.”
Also at the meeting councillor Councillor Stephen Thompson explained he and two of his three ward colleagues were trying to arrange a meeting with council official Alistair Speedie to discuss a host of issues raised by Annandale residents.
Mr Thompson said: “Unfortunately, Mr Speedie is not the quickest at responding to letters.
“We need to pin him down and say he needs to speak to the public because he is the one with the knowledge.”
Councillor Macgregor also explained plans by a utility company to carry out works at the bottom of Lockerbie High Street were holding up any further work.
She said: “They won’t say when they are doing the work, but it makes sense to wait for them to do what they need to before we do anything.
“If we spent half a million and then they dug it up people would be jumping up and down, and so would I.”
A meeting to discuss the possibility of a steering group is to be organised by councillors Thompson and Macgregor.
