Thursday November 27th 2025
Burnfoot, Hawick
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
A five-year plan aimed at ensuring an under-privileged Hawick housing estate is a much better place to live has been endorsed.
Scottish Borders Community Planning Partnership (CPP) recently agreed a Locality Plan for Burnfoot which sets out six priorities for improving the area.
From January 2025 and concluding in April staff from the Partnership’s member organisations, which included Scottish Borders Council and NHS Borders, gathered views on what people like and did not like about living in Burnfoot as well as asking about their aspirations for the area.
From these conversations, and the analysis of responses to a survey, a set of six priorities were drafted.
Local residents were then asked if these were the correct priorities and which ones mattered most to them and a plan was subsequently developed.
The priorities are reducing anti-social behaviour, increasing access to activities for young people and the wider community, reducing child poverty, increasing access to work, learning and training, improved maintenance of public areas and better health for all.
The Burnfoot Locality Plan 2026 – 2031 will be used to inform work in the area to target the six identified priorities with progress reported to both the community and the CPP and to inform work in the area to target the six identified priorities with progress reported to both the community and the CPP.
Councillor Caroline Cochrance, chair of the CPP, said: “I am delighted that we were able to approve the first in a series of Locality Plans which aim to reduce inequality in our communities.
“A lot of work has taken place over the last 10 months to develop this plan and to ensure that what matters most to the community is included.
“The plan itself represents the end of the first stage of our work in Burnfoot but the start of the next.
“Over the next five years we will build on what is already happening in the area to make a real difference to the lives of the people who live there. However, we can’t do this on our own and will continue to work closely with the community to make sure that what we’re doing is right for everyone.
“Although we have set a time-scale to deliver on the six identified priorities, we’re not expecting things to stop in five years’ time. The plan and actions arising from it represent our continuing commitment to make life better for people across the Borders.”
Locality Plans focus on distinct areas within a CPP area targeting the greatest need, improve outcomes and reduce inequalities. Locality Plans are also being developed in Bannerfield and Langlee and will be rolled out across the Scottish Borders.
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