- The Carmuirs Development Project: It was a busy August with a series of community engagement activities taking place; a trip on the Jaggy Thistle for a focus group session with the Placechangers Group a #tidycleangreen Pop up Park taking place at the Juniors car Park and an enjoyable family canal clear up day were the main highlights. As we move into September there will be a continuance of the consultancy and survey work being carried out by Rocket Science and TCV, with Carmuirs Primary school being closely involved with both environmental activities at the old Brown Street Park and a further focus group taking place on the Jaggy Thistle canal boat. The Carmuirs Development Project will hopefully make a significant contribution to community safety in the Carmuirs neighbourhood and in next month’s blog I hope to be in a position to announce how and when we will be receiving the outcomes, proposals and recommendations produced by the consultants: Rocket Science.
- Easter Carmuirs Pocket Places Project: This project has community safety at its very core and its implementation was recently announced by the Easter Carmuirs Primary School Parent Council: After a long wait, we can finally share some exciting news with you As many of you know, the parking problem both outside the school and inside the school has been an ongoing problem for years. After discussions with the school (who in turn contacted the council) and the police, our ideas to rectify the problem were rejected. We then contacted Our Place Camelon & Tamfourhill who suggested an application to Sustrans. Sustrans is a charity committed to creating green spaces and improving active travel routes in the UK. With help from OPCT, our application was successful, and we have been awarded £45,000 for the project. The project is now fully underway and will likely continue until the end of the school year. The school is completely behind the project and pupils will be involved in the discussions around how to make their journey to school safer. Parents and local residents will also have opportunities to view potential designs and have their say. We hope the result will be a safe and accessible route for our children to get to school and will offer parents some peace of mind. I look forward to seeing the designs and plans for adapting the road lay out around the school and the creation of new visual installations which will all contribute to a safer travel experience in and around the school and the neighbouring community.
- Community Climate Action Plan: The Core group have worked on this plan over the last 3 months and a big thank you at Heather Answorth at Keep Scotland Beautiful who facilitated the core group sessions and also compiled the work into the report. This document is very much organic and represents a fluid and developmental framework for supporting existing and developing community activities which will be focused upon responding and mitigating the impact of climate change. The Climate Emergency is a community safety priority and now more than ever we need to think global and act local. Climate change is having a significant impact upon our safety in both the outdoors and in our homes and a considerable negative impact upon our personal health and wellbeing. The current energy cost crisis is also part of the climate change phenomena and with the prospect of increased home insurance to cover extreme weather incidents it’s now critically important that we take the necessary steps to address these social, economic, and environmental problems and the creation of the Community Climate Action Plan for Camelon and Tamfourhill is the start of that process. The full plan can be found here:
- Twilight sports and Community Barbecue: Friday August 5th was the final session of the twilight sports pilot project, it was a warm and sunny evening with over 50 people coming along and it was great to have all the main stakeholders and partners in attendance and joining with the local community, it was a fitting and enjoyable conclusion to the Programme. I am currently collating all the evaluation forms and feedback I received and over the coming weeks we will be looking at how the programme might be continued over the winter and certainly the aim is for the twilight sports to return to the community in the spring of 2023.
- All Games Allowed the Sequel: This project was developed by community artist Mark Bleakley and with the support of Camelon Arts Project is has been delivered at various locations throughout the community including the Juniors Car park and a more permanent version beside the MUGA/Cages on Mariner Road. I have been supporting this project as it fits nicely with the community safety strategies key outcomes through involving young people with positive activities at different locations and contributes to the environmental improvement of these places. Its therefore great to be able to announce that there will be another All Games Allowed community arts session at the Nailer Road Park on Wednesday 21st September from 3pm-6pm, this is suitable for all ages so please just turn up . The work will be carried out using chalks and is therefore only a very temporary creation, it will disappear after the first heavy shower of rain, it will nevertheless be a fun and creative way of being involved with street based games.
Community Council for Camelon, Tamfourhill and Bantaskin: The elections for the community council take place on 26th October, with nominations closing on the 16th September and I would encourage any interested local people to come forward and become a community councillor, the details of the nomination and election process can be found at this Falkirk Council link which is detailed on the poster below or alternatively contact me directly at communitysafetyengager@tamfourhilltro.co.uk or 07391524528 , A local community activist got in touch with me and they are working hard to encourage local people to get involved and I can put you directly in contact with that person.
Keep Scotland Beautiful are offering free 90 minute online Climate Emergency Workshops for people living or working in Falkirk, with workshop dates available to the end of September.
I’d encourage you all to sign up, and to share the opportunity with your wider networks / friends and family. The only eligibility criteria is they live or work in the Falkirk Council area.
Use this link to Register via Eventbrite
Learn about why the climate emergency matters for Falkirk and how to take positive action.
These 90-minute online workshops will help people living or working in Falkirk to:
- understand what terms like ‘climate emergency’, ‘global warming’, ‘climate change’, ‘net zero’ and ‘carbon footprint’ mean
- learn about climate change impacts across Falkirk and how to adapt to them though local examples
- find out about new challenges and opportunities of a more sustainable Falkirk for communities, businesses and individuals
- use their actions and influence to help tackle climate change and contribute to Falkirk’s progress to net zero.
If you attend the workshop, you will receive a Certificate of Attendance from Keep Scotland Beautiful.
More about the workshops: Keep Scotland Beautiful have designed the workshops as part of a project with Falkirk Council and Green Action Trust called Falkirk Canal Connections. The project has received £720,120 from the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund.
Safer Communities Youth Action Project 