Dumfries and Galloway Totally Explained

Everything about Dumfries And Galloway totally explained

Dumfries and Galloway (Gaelic: Dùn Phris agus an Gall-Ghaidhealaibh, ) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. To the north, it borders onto South Ayrshire, East Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire; in the east the Borders; and to the south the county of Cumbria in England. It lies to the north of the Solway Firth and to the east of the Irish Sea. The region is well-known for its many artists and writers.

Geography

The Dumfries and Galloway region is composed of several sub areas and former counties.
From west to east:

The term 'Dumfries and Galloway' has been used since at latest the 19th century - by 1911 the three counties had a united Sheriffdom under that name. Dumfries and Galloway covers the majority of the Western area of the Southern Uplands (External Link

), it also hosts Scotland's most Southerly point, at the Mull of Galloway in the west of the region.

Governance

The region was created in 1975, by merging the former counties of Wigtownshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, Nithsdale, Annandale and Eskdale as a two-tier region with the districts of Wigtownshire, Stewartry, Nithsdale and Annandale and Eskdale within it. In 1996 the region became a unitary authority area and the districts were wound up. After 1996 the unitary authority became known as Dumfries and Galloway Council, instead of Dumfries and Galloway Regional Council.

Transport

Local transport strategy is co-ordinated on behalf of the council and Transport Scotland by SWESTRANS (The South West of Scotland Transport Partnership).

Rail

The region has 6 working railway stations. All are on the Glasgow South Western Line, except Lockerbie which is on the West Coast Main Line

Stranraer railway station

Kirkconnel railway station

Sanquhar railway station

Dumfries railway station

Annan railway station

Gretna Green railway station

Lockerbie railway station

Bus & Coach

The area is served by buses which connect the main population centres. Express bus services link the main towns with Glasgow, Ayr, Edinburgh and Carlisle. Local bus services are also operated across the region.

Sea

Dumfries and Galloway is home to two ports which have services to Northern Ireland, both are in the West of the region. Stena Line have a port in the town of Stranraer, and P&O Irish Sea in the village of Cairnryan.

Air

The region also has no commercial airports; the nearest are Glasgow Prestwick Airport and Carlisle Airport. The region does host a number of private airfields. The town of Lockerbie was the scene of the Pan Am Flight 103 terrorist attack on December 21 1988.

Roads

The main roads to and from the region are:

M74

A75

A76

A77

A701

Emergency Services

The Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary is the police force for the region, and is the smallest in the United Kingdom. Dumfries and Galloway Fire and Rescue Service provide firefighting services across the region. The Coastguard, Lifeboats and Galloway Mountain Rescue also offer emergency services across Dumfries and Galloway. NHS Dumfries and Galloway provide healthcare services across the region, the two main hospitals are the Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary in Dumfries and Galloway Community Hospital in Stranraer.

Education

Dumfries & Galloway Council provides nursery, primary and secondary education across the region.

Nurseries and Primary schools

For a list of nurseries and primary schools see this page.

Secondary schools

Annan Academy

Castle Douglas High School

Dalbeattie High School

Douglas Ewart High School, Newton Stewart

Dalry Secondary School

Dumfries Academy

Dumfries High School

Kirkcudbright Academy

Langholm Academy

Lockerbie Academy

Maxwelltown High School, Dumfries

Wallace Hall Academy, Thornhill

Wildlife

The region is known as a stronghold for several rare and protected species of amphibian, such as the Natterjack toad and the Great crested newt. There are also RSPB Nature Reserves at the Mull of Galloway, Wood of Cree (Galloway Forest Park), Ken Dee Marshes (near Loch Ken) and Mereshead (near Dalbeattie on the Solway Firth).

Towns and villages

Main settlements in bold text.

Ae, Airieland, Airds of Kells, Annan, Anwoth, Ardwell

Beattock, Beeswing, Borgue, Brydekirk

Caerlaverock, Cairngaan, Cairnryan, Cargenbridge, Carsphairn, Castle Douglas, Castle Kennedy, Clarencefield, Corsock, Creetown

Dalbeattie, Dalton, Dornock, Drumlanrig, Drummore, Dumfries, Dundrennan, Dunscore

Eastriggs, Ecclefechan, Eskdalemuir

Garlieston, Gatehouse of Fleet, Glenluce, Gretna Green, Gretna

Haugh of Urr, Hoddom

Johnstonebridge

Keir, Kippford, Kirkcolm, Kirkcudbright

Langholm, Lochmaben, Lockerbie

Millhousebridge, Moffat, Moniaive, Mull of Galloway

New Abbey, New Galloway, New Luce, Newton Stewart, Newton Wamphray

Parton, Penpont, Portpatrick

Robgill Tower, Ringford

Rigg, Ruthwell

Sandhead, Sanquhar, St. John's Town of Dalry, Stranraer

Terregles, Thornhill, Twynholm,Templand

Unthank

Wanlockhead, Whithorn, Wigtown

Places Of Interest

Caerlaverock Castle - Historic Scotland

Caerlaverock NNR - National Nature Reserve

Cardoness Castle

Corsewall Lighthouse, privately owned

HM Factory, Gretna, Eastriggs - site of a munitions factory(External Link

) during the World War I

Drumlanrig Castle

Galloway Forest Park, Forestry Commission

|Galloway Hydro Electric Scheme, Scottish Power

Kenmure Castle - a seat of the Clan Gordon

Loch Ken

MacLellan's Castle, Kirkcudbright

Mull of Galloway - RSPB/South Rhins Community Development Trust

Motte of Urr

Ruthwell Cross

Samye Ling Tibetan Monastery

Southern Upland Way - long distance footpath

Sweetheart Abbey, New Abbey

Threave Castle

WWT Caerlaverock - a reserve of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust

Council political composition

The council consists of 47 councillors elected for a four-year term from 13 wards. These wards were introduced for the 2007 election and each returns three or four members by the single transferable vote system of election. This system was introduced by the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, as a means of ensuring a reasonably proportionately representative outcome.

2003-2007

The result of the 2003 election returned a council with no party having overall control. A 'silver' coalition was first formed invovling all parties but Conservatives and Labour, after this coalition resigned Labour took minority control of the council. The following number of councillors were elected for each party as follows:

	Party	Councillors
	Scottish Labour	14
	Independent	12
	Scottish Conservative & Unionists	11
	Scottish National Party	5
	Scottish Liberal Democrats	5

2007-2011

The result of the 2007 election returned the following number of councillors for each party as follows:

	Party	Councillors
	Scottish Conservative & Unionists	18
	Scottish Labour	14
	Scottish National Party	10
	Scottish Liberal Democrats	3
	Independent	2

The council is currently controlled by a Scottish Conservative & Unionist and Scottish Liberal Democrats minority coalition.
After the resignation of Bruce Hodgson (Scottish Conservative & Unionists), councillor for the Abbey ward a by-election was held on the 1st of May 2008, with Michael Thomson (Scottish Conservative & Unionists) being returned as the replacement councillor. On Tuesday the 20th of May 2008, Councillor Robert Higgins stood down as SNP Group Leader, after he received a triple driving ban for reckless driving.

Current Councillors

By Political Groupings.

Scottish Conservative & Unionist

Graham Bell

Ian Blake

Ian Carruthers

John Charteris

John Dougan

Peter Duncan Business Leader

Gillian Dykes

Patsy Gilroy (Convener)

Allan Graham

Roger Grant

Jack Groom (Provost)

Ivor Hyslop (Leader) Group Leader

Ian Lindsay

Gail MacGregor

Denis R Male

Graham Nicol

Mike Thomson

Roberta Tuckfield

Scottish Labour Party

Ted Brown

James H Dempster

Archie Dryburgh

Grahame Forster

Dr. Jeff Leaver Secretary

Sean W Marshall

John Martin

David J McKie

Ronnie Nicholson Group Leader

Ronald E Ogilvie

Willie Scobie

Colin Smyth

David Stitt

John Syme

Scottish National Party

Brian Collins

Rob Davidson

Iain Dick

Alistair Geddes

Robert J Higgins

Thomas Jacques

Lorna J McGowan Secretary

Dr. Doug Snell

Andrew S Wood

Alastair Witts Acting Group Leader

Scottish Liberal Democrats

Richard Brodie

Michael Dickie Secretary

Sandra McDowall Group Leader

Independent

Jane S Maitland Group Leader

George N Prentice Secretary

Gallery

Image:Dalveen Pass from Comb Head.jpg|Dalveen Pass from Comb Head summit, near Thornhill, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Image:Lowther Southern uplands-HDR.jpg|Lowther Hill, somewhere near Dalveen Pass, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Image:Sweetheart Abbey 20061214.jpg|Sweetheart Abbey, Dumfries and Galloway (Scotland) Image:Orchardton tower 1.jpg|Orchardton Tower, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland Image:Caerlaverock SNH.jpg|Caerlaverock National Nature Reserve. View across the Nith Estuary, close to the Solway Firth, Dumfries & Galloway. Image:Tongland Powerstation 05-08-31 63.jpeg|Tongland Power station. Image:Mull of Galloway 05-09-03 33.jpeg|Mull of Galloway headland. Image:Mull of Galloway Lighthouse 05-09-03 14.jpeg|Mull of Galloway Lighthouse. Image:Dirk_(1).JPG|A Machars beach. Image:Machars_Coastline.JPG|Machars Coastline looking south from Cruggleton Castle. Image:Cruggleton.JPG|The remains of Cruggleton Castle. Image:Torrs Warren Machars.jpg|The Machars, as viewed from Torrs Warren with Luce Bay standing between. Image:The Devils Beef Tub.jpg|The Devil's Beef Tub. Image:Port William Harbour 04-11-15 03.jpeg|Port William harbour. Image:Moffat from the hills.JPG|Moffat. Image:River Nith estuary.jpg|River Nith Estuary. Further Information

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