Dumfries considers revived bid for city status

A new bid is being considered to achieve city status for Dumfries - 10 years after a previous attempt was ruled to be invalid.

An application was dismissed in 2011 after it emerged it had not come from the local authority.

South of Scotland MSP Emma Harper has now opened talks with the council to see if it would support an attempt.

If so, the town could seek to secure the status as part of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022.

An attempt was made to achieve the recognition 20 years ago for the Golden Jubilee, but this proved unsuccessful.

Then in 2011 an application for the Diamond Jubilee fell foul of the rules. It initially appeared on a list of 26 potential contenders from across the United Kingdom.

One of the criteria for bids is that they have to come from the local authority. The Dumfries bid had however come from a local action group.

When Dumfries and Galloway council started receiving press inquiries the origin of the bid came to light. The application was then taken out of the process.

Mark Jardine of the People's Project, who were behind the bid, said it had been his "naïve hope" that the application would not fall down on a "mere technicality".

This time Emma Harper has contacted the local authority to ask if it would back an application.

She said she has had a "positive response" from council leader Elaine Murray who was interested in exploring the bid further.

Ms Harper said she believed the town fulfilled all the criteria to achieve the status for this "once in 10-year opportunity".

The bid has also been backed by Mr Jardine who submitted the failed application a decade ago.

"Since Inverness got city status the whole region has gone from strength to strength. I firmly believe that Dumfries and Galloway could do likewise," he said.

A spokesman for Dumfries and Galloway Council said any city status bid would have to be submitted by the council with "absolutely no scope" for anyone else to do so.

Leader Elaine Murray said she "recognised the potential" for the bid and had asked senior officers to consider how it could be taken forward.

She said they were looking at what an application would mean "for Dumfries and the region".

Scotland currently has seven cities - Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth and Stirling.