Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 22 December 2021
I thank Bob Doris for that intervention. As he spent part of his summer in Dumfries, I would encourage all members to do that, because it is a braw, bonnie place.
We have had the issue raised of our empty shops and our vacant, abandoned and derelict buildings. However, having an aspiration to attract inward investment and inward migration to improve the town—as happened in Perth, Stirling and Inverness when they became cities—will help to tackle many of the issues that I have highlighted. Just making the city bid application has led to conversations about what needs to be done to address the issues that I have highlighted. Even some positive publicity helps.
I will turn to why Dumfries—the toon I am proud to live in, which has cultural, social, innovative and environmental attributes—is worthy of city status. Dumfries is the hame of Robert Burns. It is the birthplace of Peter Pan and the place that led Robert the Bruce to become King of Scotland. Dumfriesshire is also the hame of the savings bank founder Henry Duncan; the father of modern physics, James Clerk Maxwell; the civil engineer Thomas Telford; the first bicycle, which was invented by Kirkpatrick Macmillan; the father of the American navy, John Paul Jones; the Galloway car, which was made for women by women at Tongland and Locharbriggs; the artists Jessie Marion King and Edward Hornel; the musician Ray Wilson of Genesis fame; and the actors Sam Heughan—a lot of the lassies will know him—and John Laurie from the cult classic film “The Wicker Man”. Nor can we ever forget local Dumfries lad Calvin Harris.
Dumfries has a long history and some great stories and characters. We even have oor ain ancient breed of kye, the world famous Belted Galloway.