Smailholm Futures

Great News from Smaiholm Futures

25 September 2025

Smailholm Furures is delighted to share the news that Scottish Borders Council has advised that our application for funding from the Place Based Investment Programme Fund has been successful and they have awarded £25,200 in support of Phase 1 of our Path and Routes Project. This will enable us to carry out a feasibility study and prepare ‘shovel ready’ plans for the project.

Such plans are necessary for future funding applications.

The project will be hosted by the Community Council, and Andrew Carter (Community Council), Ian Malcolm (Community Council and Smailholm Futures), Yvan Biot (Smailholm Futures) and Linda Kinsman-Blake (for the Paths and Routes Working Group) be considering how to manage this phase. 

Residents’ participation is key to success, and we will be calling on the members of the Paths and Routes working group to define our priorities. Do let us know if you wish to be involved by contatcing smailholmfutures@gmail.com.

 

Further news:

• 10 printed copies of the village plan are available for consultation any time – just get in touch
• some of you may have seen the news about an planning application for solar panels on the village hall in the local paper. This is part of a collaboration with the Smailholm Village Hall Baord in support of the Hall’s sustainability project
• a bid for funding in support of the resurfacing of Eden Road was not successful; however, it has prompted the Council engineers to carry out a survey to provide the basis for a future funding request.

 

Andrew Ian and Yvan

Smailholm Futures Steering Group

Latest news from Smailholm Futures

26 June 2025

Smailholm Place Plan successfully registered with Scottish Borders Council

The Smailholm Futures team received the following letter from the Council Executive on 17^th June:

Thank you for submitting the Smailholm Place Plan on 3rd June 2025.

As the Planning Authority we have reviewed the Smailholm Place Plan and are of the view that it complies with the legislative requirements for the preparation, submission and registration of Local Place Plans set out in:

• The Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 as amended by the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019

• The Town and Country Planning (Local Place Plans) (Scotland) Regulations 2021

The Smailholm Place Plan and Supporting Statement will be uploaded to our Local Place Plan register:

https://www.scotborders.gov.uk/plans-guidance/local-place-plans/6.

The registered Local Place Plan will be considered as part of the next Local Development Plan at the appropriate stage.

This completes the first phase of the Smailholm Futures project. While the plan will help guide the Council in its own planning, and in individual planning applications, there is now also scope for residents to undertake individual projects under the plan.

First on the list is the Eden Road, and the Smailholm Futures team are working with residents and local Councillors on a funding proposal for its resurfacing and associated enhancements.

The Smailholm Futures team stands ready to assist residents in taking forward other actions under the Village Place Plan. They can be contacted by email at smailholmfutures@gmail.com.

LATEST NEWS FROM SMAILHOLM FUTURES

6 May 2025

Smailholm Place Plan sent to neighbouring Community Councils for comments

The consultants supporting Smailholm Futures have now completed their analysis of the questionnaire that was distributed to residents in March and made final adjustments to the Place Plan. As per the agreed process for registration with the local authority, the final draft of the plan has been sent to local Councillors and neighbouring Community Councils for comments, prior to its official submission for registration with Scottish Borders Council.  

You can access the final draft by clicking on the following hyperlinks:

-Smailholm Place Plan

-Smailholm Village Action Plan

-Appendices

The summary of the consultation exercise, based on 23 responses, noted:

“… strong support for the vision of creating a vibrant, attractive, and connected community rooted in the rural nature of Smailholm. While the majority of respondents expressed satisfaction with the proposed projects, the feedback also highlighted several areas for improvement, [concerning] … privacy, maintenance, and the feasibility of certain initiatives … [that will] need to be addressed to ensure the successful implementation of the plan.” 

Please contact the Smailholm Futures team at smailholmfutures@gmail.com if you are interested in reading the consultants’ full report on both the consultation event and the questionnaire responses.

LATEST NEWS FROM SMAILHOLM FUTURES

March 2025

Smailholm Draft Place Plan Consultation

The Smailholm Futures team presented the draft Place Plan and Action Plan at an open meeting in the Village Hall on Tuesday, 4^th March. The meeting was attended by about a third of the community, including some residents from outlying farms and farm cottages, as well as by Councillor Robson and Andrew Carter, Convenor of the local Community Council.

Attendees had an opportunity to put forward initial comments on the proposals and we are now inviting input from the whole community before finalising the Plan and registering it with Scottish Borders Council. This will allow all residents, including those who weren’t present at the meeting, to have time to look at the Plan in the comfort of their own homes. You can access the draft Plan via the following link: Smailholm Draft Place Plan

To help you make your comments and evaluations the following link : survey will take you to a short questionnaire.

All responses will be held and analysed by AtkinsRéalis, who have been assisting us with this process. To ensure confidentiality they will not be shared with the Steering Group and responses will be anonymised.

The survey will close on midnight, Sunday 23 March.

In addition, do feel free to continue to contact us at smailholmfutures@gmail.com

With thanks for your participation from the Smailholm Futures Steering Group: Andrew, Ian, Lindsay, Susan and Yvan

Smailholm Futures

The ultimate goal of this project is for the wider Smailholm community to become instrumental in building the future for their community, with funds and support available from the Scottish Borders Council, national government and other investors.  

Scottish Borders Council Place Making Initiative provides the community with a framework and set of tools to conduct the consultation.

What is Place Making?

Place-making is fundamental to UK and Scottish Government policy and legislation on community development. It is about everyone in a community working together to determine what matters to them and their community, to plan and explore together what is good, and what needs to change.

Launch event – 17 February 2023

The launch event took place following an extensive door-to-door awareness raising campaign. The aim of this event was to raise awareness of and create enthusiasm for the planning process, to conduct a preliminary identification of main issues / dreams and to identify volunteers to help move this process forward.

At this first well attended meeting, all small group discussions were recorded by hand on village maps at each of 6 tables and subsequently transcribed into a Word document.  Draft ideas drawn on to the individual maps were consolidated on to a separate village map.  A final report was produced and sent out to all within the Smailholm and surrounding area.

It was clear from the initial meeting that it was important that we maintain the rural character of Smailholm and surrounding area and five key topics emerged, these are:

Transport, Environment, Paths and Routes, Energy, Community

A second meeting was held on the 21st April 2023 to consult with the village community and surrounding area to identify possibilities and priorities for community action, and from this produce a comprehensive village plan.

Each topic was given a table within the hall.  People at the meeting were encouraged to go to the tables where they wanted to express their views.  This could be done either in writing on the provided sheet or they could pop a post it on the table anonymously.   There was also the opportunity to speak with each steering group member located at each table to explain what they did and didn’t want, as well express what they felt.  This meeting was also well attended.

It was also explained at the meeting that if the community do not want some things to change this would also be included in the plan. A further report on this meeting was then sent out to all in the community.

Since this meeting the committee have also been meeting with local farmers and a representative at Mellerstain to update and gather views from them. 

Throughout the process the steering group have asked for feedback from the wider community and to this end sent out a small questionnaire with the second report. 

Feedback can be given at any time through the email smailholmfutures@gmail.com or posted in Smailholm Futures box in the Village Hall.  

One of the areas highlighted in the first meeting was the poor state of the woodland and pathway next  to the pond.  This was the first task tackled by the steering group along with a group of volunteers who worked hard to clear the wood and re-instate the pathway to the pond area.  A barbecue followed arranged by the Village Hall.

So far, from feedback, some of the community felt that some of the topics highlighted, required further in-depth discussion and advice from experts before going forward to planning stage.   This is the next step for the steering group to arrange.