News & Resources

BQ Editor Kenny Kemp speaks to Iain Scott and reports on a little local difficulty in Crieff that might be aided by the Can Do Innovation challenge.

On 28-29 October 2015 Architecture and Design Scotland, in collaboration with a number of partners and supporters, will host the Place Challenge 2015 Town Centre Living event in Arbroath, Angus.

Barrhead Town Centre will receive a visit from Hugh Henry MSP on Thursday 30^th July 2015 as part of a campaign to connect Scottish MSP’s with Scotland’s towns. The Barrhead Business Improvement District’s Steering Group will host the visit which has been initiated by Scotland’s Towns Partnership. The campaign encourages MSP’s to spend a day in their local towns during the summer recess. 

SCOTLAND’S high streets are under pressure, new figures suggest, with ­industry bosses warning of a “significant” gap emerging between consumer confidence north and south of the ­Border.

The 1.5-hectare site, to the rear of 72-88 High Street, would be transformed into a community garden to “provide opportunities for horticultural, hospitality and basic skills training, community growing facilities” and a space for holding occasional community markets.

PAS works at grass-roots level with local communities, community groups, other local stakeholders, young people and seldom heard groups to achieve participative placemaking - helping communities to reach a shared vision for local areas in terms of land use, community assets and improved service delivery.

JUDGES will be walking the streets of three East Lothian towns in the coming weeks to determine if hard-working volunteers’ green-fingered efforts are enough to strike gold.

Scottish councils could lose out on £44 million of scarce income under UK government plans to scrap subsidies for wind farms.

ACCORDING to data from the latest Scottish census, Cumbernauld has some 52,270 residents living in around 22,105 households, and despite 71 per cent of homes in the town being owner-occupied, and 52.5% of Cumbernauld residents declaring themselves to be in ‘very good’ health, during the last census, the town is home to a shameful secret: three foodbanks. 

BID Project Manager for Queensferry Ambition

Queensferry Ambition Business Improvement District (BID) requires a Manager to lead the team in the continued development of South Queensferry.

Queensferry Ambition represents the interests of all local businesses and organisations within the town centre. As one of Scotland's most successful BID's consistently developing a track record of local, national and international projects and events, we are looking for an experienced, enthusiastic and self motivated manager.

We are already two weeks into our Parliamentary recess, and I have been enjoying the fantastic weather which I have been experiencing while out and about across the constituency.

Last week we announced the programme for TestTown 2015.  This year we are supporting ten towns across the UK and Ireland to design and deliver local activities that are appropriate for each community.  The ten towns selected will be running their TestTown activities between July and December 2015 and winners from each event will be invited to the TestTown Grand Final taking place in early 2016.

The Government has announced that the Coastal Communities Fund (CCF) is being extended to 2020/21, with a minimum further investment of £90 million, intended to unlock the potential of communities around Britain's coastlines.

Well, the first Conservative UK budget for 18 years has been and gone, and no doubt retailers are beginning to assess what it all means for them. That might be tough given the lack of some details, some rabbits that may or may not disappear into hats again, the varying time horizons and the very different impact on differentially affluent (or not) sections of the social and consumer base.

The main change trailed in the now traditional pre-budget leaking of some of (but never all) the juicy snippets, was completely irrelevant to Scotland. Large shops in England may – or may not depending on your local authority or mayor – now be able to open for more than 6 hours on a Sunday.

THE skirl of bagpipes might seem a strange sound echoing through any other French town – but not Joinville.

Most Scots will never have heard of this pretty settlement on the Marne but its population’s love affair with Scotland has endured for five centuries.

The reason is Marie de Guise, French bride of James V of Scotland. Again, a name which may be ­unfamiliar to many Scots – but everyone’s heard of her daughter.

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, was the product of this Franco-Scots marriage and was brought to Joinville on a visit by her mother.