Ponds and pathways plan for heart of town

Ponds and pathways could be created in the centre of Dunblane.

The Carman Family Foundation has submitted an application to Stirling Council planners for two ponds, paths, a fernery building and a new gate on land north and east of the Braeport Centre at Holmehill.

The 14 acre park was home to a house - demolished in the 1980s following a fire - owned by well-known philanthropist Grace Donaldson. She left the site as recreational land to ‘the children of Dunblane’ in the 1940s.

Since 2018 Holmehill has been owned by the Carman Family Foundation (CFF) who acquired the site from Allan Water Developments. The Holmehill Community Buyout group had campaigned to keep public access to the land, which had previously been subject to a number of controversial planning applications.

CFF have pledged to maintain the site for the community as the ‘Green Heart of Dunblane’. The charitable foundation took on Holmehill with the ambition to preserve and enhance the site’s parkland nature, deliver on its potential for the local community and supplement the site as a natural habitat.

Following a public consultation a design strategy was drawn up with the main features being: a new gate to the Braeport Centre to provide pedestrian access to the Braeport Meadow; landscaping of the Braeport Meadow to form two new ponds and disabled and dementia accessible paths; and a new fernery glasshouse building of reduced scale to the glasshouses presented during the consultation.

In documents submitted with the planning application, CFF agents said: “An important agenda of these proposals is for the benefit of users of all ages, including for the Dementia group based at the Braeport centre who are unable to utilise the site due to its difficult access.

“The ponds will enhance the ecosystem and provide interest to the site for local user groups and nature trails.

“The small fernery glasshouse provides a hub for user groups and an attraction to the site with links back to the town centre.”