Latest news with #Dumfries
BBC News
4 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
Who can lead Dumfries and Galloway Council?
A special meeting of Dumfries and Galloway Council (DGC) is to be held after a number of councillors quit the Conservative group which leads the local left them with just nine members of the 43-strong council in the south-west of a request has been received to hold a special full council meeting within the next 14 it leads to a change of control it would be the third administration to try running the authority in the space of three years. The Conservatives previously formed the biggest single political group on the council with 16 of them have now left - four to form a group called Novantae and three to create the Dumfries and Galloway Independent means their numbers have now fallen behind those of the SNP, which has confirmed it had received a call for a special meeting on Tuesday which will have to be held within a could see the current administration replaced after a little more than two years in charge. What is the political make up of the council? Following the decision by a number of Conservative councillors to leave the group there are now nine different groupings or individuals on the SNP has 11 councillors followed by the Conservatives with nine and Labour on Novantae has four, the Democratic Alliance three, Dumfries and Galloway Independents three, Independents three and one each for the Lib Dems and "not-specified".It means that no coalition of just two groups could achieve an outright majority. How did we get here? After elections in May 2022, an alliance was formed between the SNP, Labour, Lib Dems and independents to run the said they hoped to serve the region while working together in the name of "mutual trust and understanding".However, that coalition fell apart after less than a year and the Conservatives took over to lead an administration without an overall this year they were unable to take forward their own budget plans but remained in a block of councillors has quit the group - some of them citing concerns about how the west of the region was being has swiftly been followed by the submission of the request for a special meeting of the council which could pave the way for another change. However, the other two biggest political groups on the council have already been involved in an administration which folded after less than 12 months in would take at least three groups - and potentially as many as seven - to form an outright will also be some time before the composition of the council is likely to change next local authority elections are not scheduled until May 2027.
BBC News
11 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
McDonald's takes second bite at Dumfries planning approval
Burger giant McDonald's has submitted fresh plans for a second drive-through restaurant in Dumfries after its original application was recommended for company said it had revised its £4m proposals off the town's Annan road which were withdrawn in December last said the new application should address the concerns which had been raised by Dumfries and Galloway Council planning previously recommended refusal of the bid due to its visual impact and the failure to demonstrate that a more "appropriate site" could not be found. Andrew Crewther, senior acquisitions surveyor with McDonald's, said the revised plans directly addressed those concerns."We explored alternative sites at the Peel Centre, but one is already earmarked for Costa, and the other has permission for a much smaller unit that doesn't meet our operational needs," he said."The application also responds to feedback from council officers by repositioning the building and adding new tree planting to help soften the development's appearance and create a buffer from the A75."Alongside delivering significant inward investment and creating 120 new local jobs, the new restaurant would also support more sustainable travel by improving local access to a McDonald's restaurant."The revised planning application will be considered by the council's planning committee in due course.
BBC News
a day ago
- Business
- BBC News
Four councillors quit Conservatives to form new party
Four councillors have quit the Scottish Conservative group on Dumfries and Galloway Council to set up a new party. Andrew Giusti, Chrissie Hill, David Inglis and Richard Marsh blamed their decision on frustration over centralised pointed to the lack of support for the Galloway National Park proposals as one of the reasons they decided to form an independent group called Novantae. It leaves the Scottish Conservative and Unionist group - which forms the administration - with nine councillors. The SNP has 11 members, Scottish Labour has eight, and there are 15 sitting as independents or in smaller political groupings. All four councillors who have split from the Conservatives are based in the west of the region. Giusti and Hill represent Stranraer and the Rhins, while Inglis and Marsh are councillors for Mid Galloway and Wigtown West. Last week the Scottish government dropped plans for a Galloway National Park after encountering "significant opposition". Dumfries and Galloway Council voted to respond to the official consultation on the park proposals as "undecided". Guisti said the group wanted to pursue a political agenda "truly reflective of the needs and aspirations of our local communities". "We were elected to serve our communities, but increasingly we have found that vital decisions affecting our region are being made without sufficient local input."His colleague, Marsh, added: "The lack of genuine support for the Galloway National Park —an opportunity that could potentially transform our economy, tourism, and environment—is just one example of a broader failure to listen to the west of the region. "This isn't about political point-scoring; it's about standing up for the people we were elected to represent."They said they held no ill will towards the Scottish Conservatives and were prepared to work constructively with them and any other political group.
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Lockerbie: Remembering the victims of Flight 103
Almost 40 years on, it seems surprising there are still new stories to tell about the Lockerbie destruction of Pan Am 103 in the skies above the small Dumfries and Galloway town on 21 December 1988 is one of the most chronicled events in recent British history.A bomb exploded in the plane's cargo hold, causing the Boeing 747 to break up at 31,000ft as it flew from Heathrow to New 259 passengers and crew on board were killed, along with 11 people in Lockerbie who died when the plane fell on their homes. It remains the biggest terror attack to have taken place on British tends to focus on anniversaries, but the past six months have brought two big-budget television dramas and later this year a play about the town's response to the disaster will debut at Glasgow's Citizens a BBC Scotland documentary aims to tell some of the less well-known stories about those who died on the flight, and about those they left behind. Among the victims on the plane was Tim Burman, a 24-year-old banker who was flying to New York to spend Christmas with his girlfriend, Rose was the youngest of four and the only boy. His three sisters - Rachel, Tanya and Fiona - remember him as an "arty, sporty" brother who was keen on the environment and loved running in the Scottish says: "He genuinely was easy-going and fun, really good fun".Rose, who Tim met while he was on a gap year in Australia, says: "I enjoyed his sense of humour, his style, sense of adventure, ability to get on with everyone. They all mourn his lost potential. His sister Tanya says: "He's both the brother we had, but also a victim of Pan Am 103."Rose believes Tim and his death created a huge bond between them all."Tim is everywhere in the conversation and the mannerisms of Rachel, Tanya and Fiona," she says. "Our connection is held together by him still." Olive Gordon was 25 and a hairdresser from Birmingham. She had bought a last-minute ticket on Pan Am 103 and was planning on enjoying some shopping in New York in the run up to Christmas."She was just yapping. She said 'I'm going to America tomorrow. Going to buy stuff'. She loved shopping," her sister Donna describes Olive as "very bubbly, very full on. You just would not forget her if you knew her".Olive was one of nine siblings. "I have always asked 'why her? why my sister?'" her brother Colyn says. "And it's something that you sort of battle with. And I'm still battling with it, a little bit. Well, not a little bit, a lot."Her family believe she would have been in business now, something involving hair and beauty."She would probably be an influencer right now," Donna says. William MacAllister, known as Billy, was a 26-year-old professional golfer from Mull. He was heading to the USA for a romantic break with his girlfriend friends say Terri was hoping Billy was about to golf pro Stewart Smith worked with Billy at a course in London and remembers his friend as a natural comic with a zest for life."He was a very funny guy. Great sense of humour, great sense of fun," he says."He had moved to Richmond Park, so I went across and worked with Billy. Imagine living in London in the mid-80s when you're mid-20s, both of you."We had some great times."Back in Mull, family friends have put a memorial bench on the course at Tobermory, where they say Billy played every day after school and every weekend from the age of 12. They remember him as "some guy".Family friend Olive Brown says: "Every December I do have a wee sad moment, thinking he's not here. All that potential, enthusiasm and ability got caught short." Colyn and other members of Olive Gordon's family visited Lockerbie in the days after the disaster. It was a shocking scene."I remember the crater, this huge hole, and these little bits all over the place. It just had this smell. My God, my sister was found here. Somewhere here," he says. In the weeks that followed, members of the local community came together to wash, press and package up the belongings of those who had died on the plane. The Lockerbie laundry has become a symbol of the kindness shown by the people of the town. They treated the dead and their families with love and care while coping with their own immeasurable says: "Just thinking about it now makes me emotional. Because these people, they don't know you, they've never met you. But the way they treated you is as if they were family."The people of Lockerbie showed how humanity works. How to display compassion, to display love. I'll never forget them."I don't know if it's quite macabre to say this but I've always said I am glad that's the place that my sister's life was ended. Because of the type of people that live in this place." The events of the night of 21 December 1988 have resonated across the 2001, a Libyan intelligence officer, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, was convicted of the bombing and 270 counts of murder, following a trial in front of three Scottish judges sitting in a special court at Camp Zeist in the co-accused, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was found not from terminal prostate cancer, Megrahi was released from prison in Scotland on compassionate grounds in 2009. He was returned to Libya and spent the next three years living in a villa in Tripoli before finally succumbing to his illness in 2012. Ten years later, Libyan Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi, known as Masud, was taken into American custody after being removed from his home in is awaiting trial in the USA, accused of building the bomb that destroyed Pan Am 103. Today, the town of Lockerbie remembers the disaster in its own, quiet, from the secondary school can apply for a scholarship to spend a year at Syracuse University, in memory of 35 students from there who died in the is a memorial garden on the edge of the town, as well as plaques in Sherwood Crescent and Park Place, the two sites where most of the plane came Tundergarth Church, which overlooks the field where the nose cone was found, is also a site of more than anything, the Lockerbie bombing victims are remembered by those they left year in Tobermory, members at the golf club play for the cup which carries Billy MacAllister's his friend Stewart has a special reason to remember him."He had a big impact on my life really because, had Billy not enticed me to go and work over at Richmond, I would probably have not got to know my then girlfriend, who became my wife. My life would have been a very different one from what it became," he says."What a shame he didn't get a chance to go on and fulfil his potential."For Rose, Tim's early death has shaped the course of the past four decades for all those who loved him."I think the gift that Tim's given us is to live our lives. I always feel that I owe that to him. Get out and do it."Olive's death has had the same effect on Colyn and their siblings."Olive would have wanted us to live a good life, a full life. Like how she lived. Having a good time."Lockerbie: Our Story will be available on the BBC iPlayer from 22:00 on Monday 2 June and will be shown on BBC Two at 21:00 and BBC Scotland at 22:00 on Tuesday 3 June.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Lawyers ask for year-long delay to Lockerbie bombing trial
The trial of a Libyan man accused of making the bomb that destroyed an American airliner over Lockerbie could be delayed until spring next year. The case against Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi, known as Masud, was due to begin in Washington this month, but was delayed due to his poor health and to give the defence more time to prepare. In a joint submission lodged with the court, lawyers for the prosecution and defence are now "expecting to request" a trial date of late April 2026. The proposed delay would have to be approved by a judge. Masud has denied priming the explosive device which brought down Pan Am flight 103 on 21 December 1988, killing 270 people. The explosion killed 259 passengers and crew and a further 11 people in the Dumfries and Galloway town when wreckage of the Boeing 747 fell on their homes. It remains the deadliest terror attack in the history of the United Kingdom. New documents blame Libya for Lockerbie bombing US judge agrees to delay Lockerbie bombing trial Masud, who is in his early 70s, is described as a joint citizen of Libya and Tunisia. He has been receiving treatment for a non-life threatening medical condition. In a joint status report to the US district court for the District of Columbia, both parties referred to the "complex, international nature" of evidence in the case, adding that a pre-trial schedule would be "atypical". Lawyers also requested an early deadline for motions to "suppress the defendant's statement," presumed to be an alleged confession Masud made while in jail in Libya in 2012. The claim, which is said to be of "importance to the [US] government's case," alleges that Masud admitted working for the Libyan intelligence service and confessed to building the device which brought down the aircraft. It is also alleged he named two accomplices, Abdelbasset Al Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah. Megrahi was convicted of murdering the 270 victims and died in Tripoli in 2012 after being freed on compassionate grounds by the Scottish government. Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah, his co-accused in the trial at the Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands, was found not guilty. Scottish and US prosecutors first named Masud as a suspect in the case in 2015 following the collapse of the Gaddafi regime in Libya. He was charged five years later by then-US attorney general William Barr with the destruction of an aircraft resulting in death. Masud was taken into US custody in 2022 after being removed from his home by an armed militia. The latest hearing in the case is due to take place in Washington on Thursday. Lockerbie bombing: The ultimate detective story? FBI search for 'all Lockerbie victims' ahead of suspect's US trial
