Glenboig Development Trust

Glenboig village is located 3 miles to the north of Coatbridge in North Lanarkshire.  Its quiet rural setting belies a significant industrial heritage which included world renowned fireclay brickworks, coal mining and significant rail links.

Currently Glenboig Development Trust is an unincorporated organisation but a Company Ltd by Guarantee has been established to take forward the planned development of a new Life Centre.  A similar approach was taken to securing the finance for environmental work and the construction of a playpark.

£80,000 from cafe/catering, transport and Service Level Agreements.

Glenboig Development Trust has recently taken ownership of a plot of land that was gifted to the older people of Glenboig.  They have plans to increase their asset base through the creation of a new ‘Life Centre’.

The village of Glenboig comprises five settlements (Glenboig, Marnock, Ramoan, Greenfoot & Annathill) with the main historical sources of employment being coal mining and most notably fireclay brick making.

The decline of traditional industries and the closure of local manufacturing brought significant unemployment and an increase in social problems in the area including drug and alcohol misuse.

In response to this a group of local people came together 12 years ago to deliver services, predominantly for young people, in Glenboig Development Trust.  The property is owned by North Lanarkshire Council and when their Social Work department was due to relocate and the building close, the community fought to keep it open.

Since that time, Glenboig Neighbourhood House has gone from delivering small scale services to being a hub for the whole village.

Glenboig Development Trust has a board of 12 local people drawn from the 5 historic settlements, the newer housing developments and includes a young person’s representative.  The Board have a range of skills and backgrounds including a teaching, engineering, finance, business, property, IT.

There are strong links to the community through service delivery, the development of the local park, and with the local joint campus schools. They also link with other community groups such as other community transport initiatives and the Development Trusts Association Scotland.

Glenboig Development Trust has played a key role in retaining a coherent sense of community at a time when significant housing development in the village brought an increase in the population.

At least four large scale events take place each year, creating opportunities to bring the whole community together.

Glenboig Development Trust has good links and partnerships with North Lanarkshire Council, the NHS, North Lanarkshire Third Sector Interface, 7 Lochs Wetland Trust and a wide range of funders.

They also work in partnership with other community groups such as Twechar Healthy Living Centre, Safe Play, GBT, Kirkshaws Neighbourhood Centre, other transport initiatives and the Development Trusts Association Scotland.

Glenboig Development Trust is based on the main street of the village and is a physical hub for a wide range of community activity.

Development of wider community activity such as Older People’s Service, Environmental Project, Village Park Committee, Youth, Gala and Play scheme committees are supported by Glenboig Neighbourhood House.

The broad range of services delivered include:

Volunteering

Adult Learning

Employability – work placements

Youth Services – are delivered 7 days per week and which include Duke of Edinburgh Award, North Lanarkshire Challenge, Pre-School activities, After school activities, Forest School, Issue Based Work, Music and Volunteering

Older People services – Craft Activities, Food Delivery, Gardening, Winter Emergency Service, Respite Holidays, Physical Activity, Community Transport Support, Phone Contact Service, Volunteering, Discovery Award

Community café – including outside catering, volunteering & training

Community Transport – Delivers a service for all local groups and any community group.  Works in partnerhsip with NHS delivering a service to pre-school children.

Community Events – Easter, Summer Gala, Halloween, Christmas

In addition to develping and delivering a broad range of local services, the community have also come together to transform derelict industrial space into a village park including cycling and walking routes, and to establish a £1M play park – the largest play park in North Lanarkshire.

The scale of Glenboig Development Trust ‘s operation has outgrown their current building.  Transforming their plans and ideas for a purpose built ‘Life Centre’ into reality is their biggest challenge at the moment.

Community Groups have to slow down their pace to meet criteria of the Council, therefore, delivering the vision of larger projects takes longer than originally planned.

Glenboig Development Trust has plans in place to create a purpose built ‘Life Centre’ that will run on a sustainable basis through a mixture of income including office rental, space hire, café, and service delivery.  They also hope to the centre can become an official visitor stop on the 7 Lochs Wetlands Park trail bringing café customers and offering the chance to develop bikes/equipment hire.

The development of educational and historical projects is also a key aspiration.