Chamber and committees

Will Colin Smyth give way?

So much is going on in the south-west. The minister talked about the dairy nexus project and the investment in Alpha Solway; a lot of investment is happening in Dumfries right now. Does the minister agree that even the aspiration to apply for city status could raise awareness and shine a light on the south of Scotland?

This is the final members’ business debate this year. I hope that we can end the term on a positive, consensual note while doing something that I greatly enjoy: shining a big muckle light on the south-west of Scotland and my hame toon, Dumfries. I thank those members who signed my motion, which enabled the debate to go ahead today.

Presiding Officer, 2022 presents an exciting opportunity, as part of Her Majesty’s platinum jubilee, for toons across the United Kingdom to receive city status. Her Majesty appoints new cities. When I picked up this opportunity with Mark Jardine and the Dumfries People’s Project in June this year, I brought together stakeholders for an initial meeting. They included local elected members, council officials, community councils and organisations, community leaders, the Lord Lieutenant and Deputy Lieutenants of Dumfries, and many others.

From the meeting came the realisation that there existed many preconceptions about what makes a town qualify to be a city. So, before I extol the virtues of Dumfries and oor wider region, I want to do some myth busting. Questions have been asked about the first myth: “Don’t you need to have a cathedral?” The answer is no—Willie Coffey is laughing, because he asked me the same question 10 minutes ago. That is not a requirement for a town to be a city, although we do have an amazing red sandstone church on the Crichton campus, and it is an awfie braw place tae visit.

The second myth is that Dumfries isnae big enough. The answer to that is that there is no population requirement for city status award. Dumfries has a population of 48,229, which is mair than 16 of the cities that already have city status, including Stirling and Perth. Other issues have been raised, such as, “Ye cannae be a city acause there are too many seagulls and too many empty shops.” Sadly, all cities are tackling the same issues of empty shops and vacant, abandoned and derelict buildings. Those matters can be addressed if we aspire to do that, and they are being addressed.

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.

What steps is the Scottish Government taking to further encourage women to have careers in STEM? It is not just about school; it is about encouraging women even in college or higher education.

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated in its draft budget for 2022-23 for building social and affordable housing in Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders. (S6O-00566)

Okay. Thanks.

Man, I think that you should take a deep breath while I make my intervention. We are not talking about a massive concrete metropolis; we are talking about an aspiration for the biggest toon in the south, which can then spill out into the wider region. Do you not have an aspiration for the south of Scotland to have one city?

I recently visited Passivhaus housing in Dalton, near Lockerbie. The Passivhaus model is hugely beneficial in reducing energy bills for residents and in assisting our fight in tackling the climate emergency, and there is evidence to suggest that it can be beneficial for health as a result of the air filtration. Can the cabinet secretary comment on whether any funding in the budget is being used to explore the building of social and affordable houses to meet the Passivhaus standards?

I thank Mr Mundell for that intervention, but I am coming to that. It is about aspiration.

We boast a vibrant cultural scene, with the Big Burns Supper; the guid nychburris festival; the oldest working theatre in Scotland, the Theatre Royal; and many arts, music and book festivals. Dumfries and Galloway has the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization biosphere and the world-recognised dark skies park in the Galloway forest. Hopefully, it will also be the hame of Scotland’s next national park.

All of D and G is an amazing outdoor greenspace adventure park. It is home to world-class facilities such as the 7stanes mountain bike trails, the otter pools—