Councillors to consider Kinneil walled garden proposals

Falkirk Council’s Executive Committee is due to consider future plans for Kinneil Estate’s walled garden at its latest meeting next Tuesday.
New gates by Ratho Byres Forge for Falkirk Council's Kinneil walled garden.New gates by Ratho Byres Forge for Falkirk Council's Kinneil walled garden.
New gates by Ratho Byres Forge for Falkirk Council's Kinneil walled garden.

Following a second consultation on the subject this summer, council officials will present the Executive with a proposed ‘masterplan’ for the walled garden.

The document outlines £240,000 of infrastructure investment and alterations to put in place a new ‘spatial framework’ in three phases, concluding with the demolition of a disused large existing glasshouse and provision of new toilets, wi-fi and other items. This is in addition to an estimated £297,500 already allocated for repairs to the old stone walls of the garden.

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Ian Shearer, chairman of the Friends of Kinneil, said: “New investment in the historic Kinneil walled garden is welcome and necessary.

"However, it could improve the proposals to be clearer what people will ultimately get for this expenditure, and what the eventual vision actually looks like.

“This plan and this funding do not seem sufficiently integrated into any real strategic progress or investment on the existing 2015-25 masterplan for Kinneil House, Museum and Estate as a whole, nor into any distinctive vision for Bo’ness as a place and as a destination.

“2022 will be the centenary of Kinneil becoming a public heritage asset and park. We are asking Councillors across parties, as the Estate’s modern owners and custodians, to celebrate the value to people – especially over recent times – of such outstanding assets.

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"We hope that together with Historic Environment Scotland they will build on this positive step and commit to renewed, transformative impetus for the larger plan – identifying major funding sources for what Kinneil as a whole could and should be in the future, both as a much-loved place for the community, but also for its many visitors.”