A Heritage Strategy has been agreed by Falkirk Council.

I have an active interest in the development of the immense heritage and resulting tourism and economic development opportunities surrounding Bo'ness.

Potential for Bo'ness undermined

So I do feel that the potential closure of the Kinneil Museum would undermine the huge potential for Bo'ness. I have already shared my firm view with councillors Constable and Spiers that there is a good case to be made for the creation of Heritage Park status, similar to that of the National Park idea, from Birkhill to Blackness Point.

This would encompass significant and unique historical opportunities around Roman, cinema, rail, engineering, coal, land (Hamilton's) and trading.
The Heritage Park could envelope an archipelago of key sites including Linlithgow Palace, Callendar House and the Roman Fort near the Falkirk Wheel.

Attract key funding

This could attract key funds from public, private and voluntary sector sources, perhaps with a dedicated Heritage Trust style partnership created to included Falkirk Council, Visit Scotland, SE Forth Valley, Historic Scotland and a significant community involvement, which would embrace the principles of community engagement associated with community planning.

Indeed, perhaps this could be directly linked with the development of the Bo'ness end of a community planning partnership, which is required anyway.

Unique heritage in Bo'ness

This could then create a fund base to perhaps develop Kinneil House – restoring huge parts of the building and establishing this as a major indoor museum that would embrace the vast range of unique heritage in Bo'ness, act as a sister to Callendar House, be a centre piece of a living external museum (Bo'ness) and form the centre piece of a major tourism based marketing activity that could promote the Heritage Park and the wider archipelago of historic sites.

Good platform for future tourism development

The relatively high level of independent retail and other traders in Bo'ness Town Centre and the existing value of the SRPS site can provide a good platform to create a strategy of more traditional unique craft and engineering based business, as part of the Heritage Park infrastructure.

This could help attract very specialised and very skilled trades that can establish Bo'ness as the centre of such activity in Scotland.

Central location of Bo'ness offers ambitious development strategy

The central location of Bo'ness to the wider Scottish market, the range of unique historical events and sites (going back 6,000 years) and the opportunity to embrace a wider archipelago of sites provides an ambitious but achievable strategy to help create strong economic development around tourism and heritage.

In my view, there is a unique opportunity to develop Bo'ness into a very successful and unique part of the Scottish tourism map, creating employment and sustainable growth.