They have put the opening of Beattock Station, provision of a swimming pool and leisure facilities and a shopping mall at the top of their ‘wish list.’
Nick Wright, of Nick Wright Planning, who is leading a project to develop the official Moffat and Beattock Community Action Plan, is hoping many of them will turn up at two workshops to be held next week.
The sessions will help aid the creation of an action plan for the investment over half a million pounds pledged by SSE Renewables to Moffat in return for using the town as a HGV route for their Clyde Extension Windfarm.
Funding from the Scottish Government is being used to employ Mr Wright’s company to create the plan.
The deadline for completion of the plan is next month and the two workshops, at Beattock on September 21 and Moffat the following night, will lead up to a drop-in exhibition in Moffat Town Hall on October 15.
Mr Wright said: “When we finish in October, we will have produced an action plan that maps out a long term future for each place – what needs to happen now and in the future.”
Separate sessions were held for the young people in the two communities, to find out what they see as vital to keep the area thriving.
Beattock P4-7 pupils suggested making more of the heritage park behind the village hall, including facilities for BMX and skateboarding, and for planting fruit trees.
The pupils also want to see a shop and it was unanimously agreed that the station should be re-opened.
Meanwhile, 40 pupils from Moffat Primary put forward various suggestions, including big ideas for a swimming pool, cinema, supermarket, and a shopping mall at the old school.
Senior students put opening Beattock station on their list, along with a youth centre with wifi, mountain biking routes at Gallowhill, a 3G pitch and running track and refurbishing the old academy as a shopping mall for jobs and tourists.
However, of 30 students from S3, S5 and S6 who were asked if they could see themselves living locally in ten or 15 years, only five thought they would still be in Moffat or Beattock.
