'Selkirk & The Valleys' was the name for the Placemaking / 'Town Team' planning Community-led ideas for improvements to Selkirk and the Ettrick & Yarrow valleys.

Mandated for all Scottish communities, the Local Place Plan took more than two years of collecting ideas and public consultations, leading to its adoption by Scottish Borders Council in August 2025. 

                                                           

Sadly, an adopted Place Plan doesn't guarantee funding, and projects these days require funding from various sources, including grants, but new projects nned to be supported by the community, so the many consuations and meetings were a chance for everyone in Selkirk and the Ettrick & Yarrow valleys, as well as local towns such as Midlem, Liliesleaf and Selkirk, to endorse any or every idea – or suggest ones that hadn't been mentioned.

The Future:

Anyone who wants to follow through on Place Plan ideas will now be able to use the framework of the Place Plan to infrom their thoughts, as well as show that an idea has public support. It shoud finction in the way that the prvious 'Selkirk Action PLan', of 20212-2015, was able to gernate ideas, as well as an aide memoire from anyone looking at historic ideas. A list has been compiled of all the ideas from the Action Plan and the Place Plan sessions that are not currently included in the Place Plan, so that ideas are not forgotten. 

The HIstory:

Well-attended public meetings in 2022/2023 involved more than 100 residents to discuss Selkirk's future. Subsquently, the ‘Selkirk & The Valleys’ group was formed, and managed to distil more than 400 comments into 40 ideas under headings, including People & Wellbeing, Tourism, Arts, Culture & Heritage, Natural & Local Built Environment, and Business Development. A series of public consultation initiatives were launched to allow the community to choose their favourites.

A draft Local Plan was produced in Spring 2025 and published for comments, before creating the final version of the Plan in July. That was then subject to a statutory consultation period, in which the final Plan was sent to 16 surrounding Community Councillors, as well as the 3 Selkirkshire SBC Councillors, for comment. The Place Plan was formally adopted by Scottish Borders Council in August 2025.

Members of the subgroups involved in the creation of the Plan included representatives from the Selkirk Hill Management group, Live Borders, the South of Scotland Destination Alliance, the Victoria Park Action Group, Selkirk Community Council, the Ettrick & Yarrow Development Company, Thornfield Care Home, Scott’s Selkirk, the General Store, and many local organisations, as well as interested residents who attended monthly public meetings.