Projects

The Trust took ownership of the former Woodside Industrial Estate from the Dumfries & Galloway Council on behalf of the community under a Community Asset Transfer arrangement on 15 March 2022. This asset brings long-term income into the community, which is reinvested in future community projects.

The name of the site has now been officially changed in 2024 from Woodside to Ballingclach. Existing tenants Tarff Valley vacated at the end of 2023 and refurbishments, including external cladding and electrical upgrades, were then carried out while the site was unoccupied . 

Mathers Dairy Utensils Ltd are now leasing and in the process of moving into the two front units formerly occupied by Tarff Valley.
The larger rear unit is being leased by a new tenant, SIRTN Toys Ltd. We are delighted to welcome both of these businesses to the area.

The smaller rear unit measuring 85m2 is still available to lease to an active commercial shopfront business other than for storage or heavy machinery work. If you would like to register an Expression of Interest, please email thetrust@oldluce.org.uk.
Priority for lets of the units will go to those looking for an active use of the site that will bring jobs to the area.

The Trust made the difficult decision not to progress the Community Asset Transfer of the Lorry Park, due to issues that arose during the conveyancing process, including lack of clarity on access rights over the site and the potential for contaminated land on the site that would have been costly to clean up.

Planning permission was granted on 27 September 2024 to change Brambles into a rentable commercial/retail space on the ground floor and two self-contained holiday rental studios on the upper floor, to be rented on a nightly rather than weekly basis to ease the shortage of B&B-style accommodation in the area. It has been a long and frustrating road, but we now have just the building warrant process to go through before work can finally start on bringing this old building back to life with the view to reopening in 2026. Many thanks to ARPL Architects and their design team.

Following the community consultation held in May 2020,  the results reiterated the unanimous support given in July 2019 for the Trust to seek ways to safeguard GP services in the Old Luce area. The full results of this consultation are available at www.oldluce.org.uk/gpsurgery/ 

Further community consultation on housing at the Four Winds site in November 2021 overwhelmingly supported the demolition of the existing Four Winds house and building three 2-bedroom bungalows on the site. The Trust was subsequently successful in obtaining funding from Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Community Led Economic Regeneration Fund (CLERF) which, combined with funding from Old Luce Community Fund, will allow the Trust to develop the plans for both the new Surgery and Housing to the submission of a full Planning Application, following earlier Pre-Planning Applications on both developments.

The Trust continues to work closely with the GP Practice Management Team and Dumfries and Galloway NHS to finalise the required size and design of the new Surgery building and discuss funding options. As part of their consultancy process, the NHS held a Risks & Benefits and an Options Appraisal public workshop at the Glenluce Public Hall in November and December 2022. 

The Trust has also engaged Community Enterprise to conduct research into potential funding opportunities for the remaining funding for the Glenluce Healthy Living Campus development, whilst also continuing its own discussions with funders, and will take forward the recommendations moving forward.

The Woodland Management Plan was completed for the Glen in late 2019.  The Friends of the Glen continue to work through their action plan for work in the Glen based on this management plan. This dedicated group of ground volunteers meets regularly on various days and with the very welcome help of Glenluce Primary School teachers and students, clears invasive laurel, rhododendron and Himalayan balsam and replaces them with regenerative native species kindly supplied by the Woodland Trust. Volunteers are also working and undertaking training with Galloway Fisheries Trust in an ongoing capacity around non-native plant control and pesticide use, in order to monitor and control invasive species such as Japanese knotweed.

Boundary fencing on the north side of the Glen will be replaced in the next year and path and other improvements are also planned.

The Friends of the Glen group rely on a wide variety of volunteer skills. Positions are currently available for Chair, Secretary, Grant Coordinator, Volunteer Coordinator and Events and Marketing Coordinator.  Interest in becoming a volunteer for the Friends of the Glen can be lodged at thetrust@oldluce.org.uk.

The Village Square was officially opened on 4 June 2022 as part of the Glenluce Queen’s Jubilee celebrations and the community turned out in great numbers across all ages on the day, a wonderful site to see. The Square was then nominated in 2023 for a Scottish Civic Trust My Place Award, an annual celebration of the difference local communities can make to their built and natural environment, with the aim to bring proper recognition to community-led built environment projects that have transformed a local neighbourhood.

Our garden designer Sian Roberts keeps a regular expert eye on the garden beds. The floral displays, particularly in spring and summer, have been stunning, with plenty of colour and interest for all to enjoy. Oak benches are planned for installation beneath the wooden shelter in time for Christmas 2024 celebrations.

This path, created along the old railway line between Dunragit and Glenluce, was opene in summer 2019 and provides an off-road walking route linking the two villages. This walk is particularly beautiful when the gorse and broom is in full flower. Please be aware that, as the path is on working farmland, the fence along sections of this route is electrified.

The aim of the Back Burn project was to improve our natural environment through the removal and installation of a new state of the art footbridge along the Back Burn, as well as creation of a new surfaced and drained pathway, hand rails and lighting. We hope that you enjoy all of the improvements and make good use of this route regularly.

The Glenluce Primary School Fayre (2.30-4.30pm) and official Christmas light switch-on (5pm) will be happening at the Hall and the Village Square Christmas tree on Saturday 30 November.

A new Christmas tree and assorted lights will adorn the new Dunragit Community Hub for the first time this year, with the official switch-on happening Sunday 1 December.

You are currently using the Community Website.  We have a schedule of maintenance in place and regularly update the website with new information and carryout checks to ensure that the information that you are seeing is as up to date as possible.  We hope to continue to improve our community and visitor information pages over time, so that the website continues to act as a single point of contact online for the parish.