THERE are aspirations for the Wee County to once again boast a "model" travelling persons site.

The ambitions were laid out by councillors last week as they discussed an update on proposals to transform the Westhaugh Travelling Persons Site.

As previously reported, the site was transferred to the housing department last December.

While council documents said Westhaugh still meets minimum standards, it has reached the end of its useful life.

The Kilncraigs chamber also heard that the site requires significant investment for refurbishment or even replacement and the Scottish Government has allocated a £70,000 grant to the local authority for improvements.

A meeting of the Place Committee last Thursday, March 18, heard that those residing at the site have been engaging with council officers on how to drive the improvements forward, as part of participatory budgeting.

Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Jane McTaggart said: "I'm happy to see we are using the participatory budget to engage with the residents and move things forward in a way that will be conducive to improving their standard of living.

"I think we are moving in the right direction although there is a good bit of work still to be done there, so it's unlikely to happen in the next couple of months but it's definitely a positive direction."

Current draft planning for Westhaugh, located on the B908 between Fishcross and Alva, is assuming a budget allowance of £120,000 per pitch for the redevelopment.

Engagement with travelling persons at Westhaugh showed a need to address issues with boundary and divisional fencing as well as pitch security gates.

Further meetings last month highlighted the need for a CCTV system and for WiFi.

Cllr Donald Balsillie added: "I'm very pleased that this work is progressing during difficult times.

"Covid-19 obviously is a real issue in trying to drive projects forward as we've seen in the previous report.

"I'm old enough to remember that this site itself was actually a model site, I think it actually received awards when Clackmannanshire Council first created it."

He explained he was keen to ensure there will be on-site supervision and was hoping to see the latest technology utilised, calling for ground-source heat pumps to be potentially installed.

Mr Balsillie added: "Thanks to the officers in taking this forward, it's probably long-overdue and hopefully once again, Clackmannanshire Council will have a model travelling people's site that we will be proud of and that the travelling community will also acknowledge as a good facility."