These last three years have just flown by and it has been a personal whirlwind of a journey which started in May 2020 in full Covid lockdown and which has now reached this milestone with a number of notable achievements, work that is ongoing and with just a few tiny disappointments along the road. I have endeavoured to keep these regular Community Safety Blogs upbeat, but I also hope that they have been presented realistically and have reflected the wider context that we all operate within. My primary aim of publishing these Blogs has been to keep the local community , organisations and other Services fully updated and involved with the wide array of community development projects that the Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill Project has supported from 2020- 2023.

The community safety strategy has significantly evolved over the last three years and has become focussed upon these key themes: The Climate emergency and the work being developed and delivered through our Local Community Climate Action Plan and this includes facilitating Low Traffic neighbourhoods with improved active travel, Supporting Recovery from substance dependency within the community, and targeting and engaging local young people to better understand their priorities for community safety.

The key outcomes of the local community safety strategy were originally detailed in this published document of April 2021: Camelon and Tamfourhill will be a safer, happier and more attractive place to live:

Community Safety Strategy

I am going to briefly reflect upon each of these three organic themes that I have highlighted above and offer some suggestions as to their future direction of travel, or at the very least indicate what the key priorities are likely to be for each theme over the coming year.

• The Climate Emergency and the local Community Climate Action Plan:

The current crippling fuel costs are having a massive impact on our Community Organisations ability to heat and light their buildings and facilities. Energy efficiency and sustainable energy systems will be crucial to the communities ability to successfully support the ongoing and developing activities which operate from Tamfourhill Community Hub. This theme will also include all the environmental work and proposals within the CCAP, community growing projects, raised beds and orchards, canal and community clean-ups and wider environmental  improvement work can all be progressed through this key theme. It will be important to build upon the success of the Tidy, Clean and Green Community Action approach and continue to support Greening and Growing activities that contribute to tackling the climate emergency. Another important strand to this theme will be the work that has begun around Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and improved active travel routes and opportunities throughout the community.  The Pocket Places Project at Easter Carmuirs primary School is now progressing and there will be detailed community involvement with the second phase of this Project which is focused upon the streets and residents who live around the school. Similarly, the Carmuirs Safer Streets and Active Travel Project has recently concluded the streets review phase of the Project and a detailed report will now be published with an agreed plan for further stakeholder involvement with the intention to improving road safety and active travel routed around Nailer Road Park, the local schools, Community Centre and the Forth Valley Sensory Centre. These are all partnership Projects both locally and more strategically and the work of the Core Group is therefore critically important to ensuring that we can contend with the challenges of the Climate Emergency. I was enthused by a recent Leaning Exchange that I attended on behalf of our local Core Group at Ferguslie Park in Paisley. The key message that I leant that day was that the work undertaken by communities in the area of Climate Change must be RELVANCE!!! We visited community growing projects, a bike recycle and repair project, a new children’s play park, a regenerated public park, a new system of safe paths and a community market. The striking issue for me was how close our communities are in their journey to tackle climate change and make their respective Community Climate Action Plans relevant, meaningful and a facilitator of positive social change. A personal; thanks to the Darkwood Crew, Friends of the Privies and the Tannerhill Centre for hosting the Learning Exchange.

• Supporting Recovery and improving Community Cohesion:

The Forth Valley Recovery Community Drop in based in Tamfourhill Community Hub has grown from strength to strength and is an excellent example of how appropriate support and encouragement can facilitate positive outcomes for people’s lives. Throughout 2023/24 I will be continuing to support the local recovery Community both in terms of their involvement with the wider safer street’s partnership events but also with the delivery of a programme of outdoor wellbeing activities. Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill has been successful in securing new resources from the Falkirk Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund and this will be deployed to support a wide array of outdoor based activities and experiential learning opportunities. The programme will also be available to the wider community, but the intention is to provide new leadership and experiential leaning opportunities based around the many outdoor assets within our community, including the Canal network and the various wooded areas and the emerging community growing projects. Community cohesion can be achieved and enhanced through people connecting with the outdoor green spaces around them and in Camelon and Tamfourhill we have an abundance of such locations. There remain specific projects that were more recently progressed through the Falkirk Canals Connections Consortium and the short-term Community Renewal Fund which will require further community engagement and partnership approaches if there is to be a successful delivery stage for these Projects. The further development of Safe Play Opportunities at Easter Carmuirs Park will require ongoing support and a committed partnership, and I would hope that aspects of this Project can be carried forward though the new Safer Streets Youth Action Project.     

• Safer Streets Youth Action throughout Camelon and Tamfourhill:

Additional match funding has been secured through the Falkirk Community School Fund which will enable OPCT to continue to support and coordinate the Twilight Sports Programme over the next three years. There is now the opportunity to establish new activities and community Learning opportunities for our young people over this period and this will be developed and delivered within a community safety context. And as I alluded to above there will also be a community development aspect to this approach with Projects like the improved Play opportunities at Easter Carmuirs Park forming an integral part of the safer streets youth actions in the area.

A final note regarding the Twilight Sports Winter Programme: The 14 week programme has generally been a very successful, positive and enjoyable experience, however I would like to remind all the young people who take part and their parents and families that the sessions must always be undertaken in a welcoming , safe and respectful manner. I have spoken to a all the young people who attend these sessions and reminded them of these standards, and I have also dealt with a couple of specific matters that were raised with me, I now consider these issues to have been fully resolved.  The Winter programmes concludes at Tamfourhill Community Hub on Friday 24^th March and the spring sessions will begin in Friday 21^st April 6pm-9pm in Easter Carmuirs Park.  A final reminder that Dr Bike will be in attendance this Friday 10^th March from 6pm-8pm in Tamfourhill Community Hub.

Climate change, encouraging biodiversity and conservation of our natural environment are all community safety concerns and the recently agreed Community Climate Action Plan for Camelon and Tamfourhill represents a local response to the negative impacts and consequences of the climate emergency. Through my ongoing community engagement work especially the environmental improvement work carried out around the canal and involving groups of young people I have been reassured of our sustainable future through the knowledge, enthusiasm, and commitment of the participating young people to tackle climate change, improve the local environment and get involved in various conservation activities. I have in previous blogs written about the legacy of John Muir the Scottish ecologist, environmental campaigner, explorer, and founder of the American National Parks and it is therefore very positive that I am able to share the recent work and experiences of our own Tamfourhill John Muir Discovery Group who are now nearing completion of their local Discovery Awards.

 The John Muir Award encourages us all to enjoy and appreciate our wild places, to explore those wild places, conserve or give something back to those wild places and to then share our experiences of being involved with the Award. I am therefore going to use this blog to present and share our Groups experiences of their award and illustrate their journey of discovery around some of the wild places within the local community.   https://www.johnmuirtrust.org/john-muir-award

To gain a John Muir Award everyone meets four challenges-Discover, Explore, Conserve & Share.

The wild places that the Group discovered were:  The Forth and Clyde Canal and towpath, Easter Carmuirs Park, The woods at Tamfourhill Community Hub and the woods from the canal along the route of the Antonine wall:

The different activities the group carried out to explore these wild places: Exploring the canal on canoes, walking along the towpath, and collecting items for their nature boards, playing group games in the park like predator and prey, having hot drinks in the woods and having marshmallows on an open fire and using a Kelly kettle, filling in tree and leaf identification sheets, walking through the woods and collecting leaves, berries, and nuts and completing a John Muir nature observation alphabet session.

Conserving a wild place and how the Group took responsibility, what they did to make a difference and give something back to wild places: The group carried out paddle pickups and cleared rubbish, litter and plastics from the canal, they took part in litter picks along the canal towpath, planted fruit trees and bulbs in the Easter Carmuirs Park, made wild seed bombs and flung them about the grass area of the Park to create wild flower meadows for birds, bees and butterflies,  made bird feeders for the local woods and planted seeds in pots to encourage biodiversity in the hub growing area.

 

Conserving our wild places

And here they are sharing their experiences: The group produced a big discovery map which described their journey through all the wild places they had explored and illustrates what activities they had carried out at each location; they drew pictures and wrote comments which they shared with the group about the different aspects of the award and what their personal experiences were of being involved. The large discovery map and the photos will be displayed in the community hub and family and friends will be invited along to a sharing and award evening next month. The group also wrote amazing poems about their exploration of the woods and grounds around Tamfourhill Community Hub and shared them with the rest of the Group, the poems will be displayed on posters in the Hub.   

The Green leaf fell form the tall tree, now the yellowing leaf is ready to be blown into Autumn

As we walk through the trees I feel a sudden breeze, we see a beautiful oak tree and then we discover a whole new dream that we are all connected to nature like a flowing magical stream.  

And into the forest I go to lose my mind and find my soul: John Muir

Open Doors Safer Streets Events:

These events kicked off at Camelon Community Centre on Thursday 3^rd November and the next event is on Friday 18^th November form 10am -1pm in Tamfourhill Community Hub, and the last event for 2022 takes place on St Andrews day at the Camelon Juniors Social Club, the full programme is detailed below.

If you have an idea that will make your streets safer or you need to resolve a local issue or you are interested in making a positive difference to Camelon and Tamfourhill, then please come along and chat to the staff and volunteers from a range of organisations and groups who will be there to listen to your issues, ideas, and suggestions. All local services will be in attendance, including Falkirk Council Housing and Street Cleansing, the Community Police, Fire and Rescue Service, Forth Valley Recovery Community, Cyrenians, Transform Forth valley, Neighbourhood Watch, Forth Valley Sensory Centre and other local community groups.

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The Twilight Sports Winter Programme

The Programme started on Friday 4^th November and was very busy, we had a fabulous night of fun fitba and rollerblading. This Friday 11^th November we will have Dr Bike in attendance so please bring your bikes along for a service and essential maintenance, the main sport will be rollerblading and we will be visited by our Community Safety Partners. Free for all 10-16 years old from 6pm-8pm in Tamfourhill Community Hub, a snack and drink are provided and it’s all free. Here is the full programme for November and December.

• 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:

https://opcamelontamfourhill.co.uk/community-climate-action-plan-camelon-and-tamfourhill/ 

• Twilight sports and Community Barbecue: Friday August 5^th 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 21^st 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 26^th 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.

Over the next 2 months the Tidy, Clean and Green Community Group with the support of the Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill Project will be coordinating a programme of activities and events which will be focused upon environmental improvement and the development of two locations: the Camelon Juniors FC Car park and adjoining land, including the route leading onto the canal towpath and the old Brown Street park. This Project is funded through the Community Renewal Fund as part of the Falkirk Canal Connections Community Engagement and Skills theme. The key consultation and engagement elements of the Project have been commissioned to Rocket Science an Edinburgh based company and The Conservation Volunteers.  

The Project will build upon ongoing community consultations and events which have taken place over the last 2 years, which included:  community safety surveys and workshops, the Fun for the Future event in February of this year and the Gather and Play Event which was delivered in partnership with Camelon Arts Project back in October 2021, community growing activities which involved tree and bulb planting at the old Brown Street Park site as most recent as June 2022 and ongoing litter picks and clear ups throughout the local area . This period of activity highlighted, through the involvement of local people, that there were 4 key themes for improving these community spaces:

• Security & Community Safety
• Safe play for children, young people, and families
• Creative arts projects
• Community growing and greening activities.

Whilst acknowledging that other stakeholders will have quite specific aspirations for some of these locations and that there is in no respect an agreed consensus for the development and environmental improvement of these particular locations, these 4 key themes will be checked out and revised by the Consultants and will form the starting point for the Carmuirs Development project. Progress will be reliant upon local people, organisations and groups coming forward to take this Project to the next stage, and at this initial phase the priority is to seek the views and involvement of the local community and to then look at what could be developed. Essentially without the community agreeing to a set of proposals and then forming a means of securing funding and resourcing these ideas and suggestions will not get progressed. This will be challenging but I am hopeful that we can through this initial process involve and motivate sufficient local people, stakeholders, and organisations to come together to take some of the Carmuirs Development Projects proposals forward beyond September 2022. The bottom line is that without community buy in and local volunteers coming forward to steer the ideas it will not be possible to make the changes happen that we identify over the next 2 months.    

The Project will involve: Focus group sessions, targeted meetings and interviews with all the key stakeholders, a survey and a programme of community events and activities. The activity programme for August is detailed below and these sessions will provide a forum for the consultants to engage and discuss the views and aspirations of local people and provide some free and enjoyable activities for the community which have a theme of environmental improvement and safe creative play in the outdoors.   (The Programme for September will be published in next month’s community safety blog and throughout the local area)

Carmuirs Development Project: Delivery timeline and activities for August 2022

Activity	Date & Time	Location	Target Group	To register or take part	Organisations/groups Involved:
Collaborative construction creative project	Friday 5th August: All day	CJFC Car park & canal towpath	Community	Just turn up	Environmental artist & Canal College
Conservation & nature activities	Friday 5th August 3pm-6pm	CJFC Car park on the grass area	Children, young people, families	Just turn up	The Conservation Volunteers
Consultation & surveys	Friday 5th August 3pm-6pm	CJFC Car park	Community	Just turn up	Rocket Science
Twilight Sports & Barbecue	Friday 5th August 6pm-9pm	Carradale Ave MUGA (Basketball Court)	Young people 10-16 years old and family	Just turn up	Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill, Tidy, Clean and Green, TCV, Rocket Science.
Pop up Park with free refreshments & Environmental activities	Thursday 11th August 12noon-4pm	CJFC Car park grass area	Community	Just turn up	Tidy, Clean and Green
Sensory activities and stall	Thursday 11th August 12noon-4pm	CJFC Car park area	Community	Just turn up	The Conservation Volunteers and Rocket Science.
Collaborative construction creative project	Thursday 11th August 12noon-4pm	CJFC Car park & Canal towpath	Community	Just turn up	Environmental artist and canal college.
Jaggy Thistle Focus Group	Tuesday 16th August 10.30am-2pm	Lock 16 and the Canal	Young people 12-16 years old	5 places only, contact the community safety engager	Go Forth and Clyde, Rocket Science.
Family Canal clear up, conservation day, lunch provided: Focus group & surveys	Saturday 27th August 10am-4pm	Falkirk Wheel and the Canal.	Families	12 places only contact the community safety engager	Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill, Tidy, Clean Green, The Conservation volunteers and Rocket Science.

The Twilight Sports Programme:

This programme has been busy each Friday night and enjoyed and valued by local young people and the wider community. As a community safety activity, it has been supported by the local community police and the Fire and Rescue Service and I would personally like to thank them for their ongoing support, and I know the young people really enjoyed them being in attendance and their visits became an integral part of the evening’s activities. The Falkirk Wheelers have facilitated an innovate and fun way of involving young people with sport and wellbeing activities and I have been very impressed with the skills of the participating young people, and noted how their confidence and abilities have improved week upon week. The Twilight sports sessions have also provided more traditional sports, including football and rugby and there has also been inputs from TCV who provided some nature based activities. The sessions provide a safe, welcoming, and positive arena, and I would like to build upon that success, and I will therefore be exploring options with the different Partners to see how we can support the Twilight sports through the winter. The present programme has been generously funded by Camelon Community Sport Hub and Police Scotland and I will be meeting with the funders to look at how we can support the twilight posts in the longer term and also identify other funders and sponsors and encourage them to come on board. I am very grateful to a number of volunteers who have turned up regularly and the ongoing support of parents and grandparents, and to celebrate the conclusion of this series of sessions there will be a barbecue at the Twilight sports on Friday 5th August at the Carradale Avenue MUGA from 6pm. The consultants from the Carmuirs Development Project will be in attendance to discuss and listen about the themes they are developing around environmental improvement and new opportunities for Carmuirs, I look forward to seeing lots of regular faces on Friday 5th August.     

The John Muir Discovery Award:

And Into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul: John Muir

I have in a previous community safety blog highlighted the importance of safe outdoor play and the legacy of the great Scottish conservationist, explorer and campaigner, John Muir https://opcamelontamfourhill.co.uk/2021/09/21/ I am therefore very happy to highlight the work of the John Muir Award group who are young people who regularly attend activities and programmes operating at the Tamfourhill Community Hub. It has been a really positive experience supporting this Group on their journey through the John Muir Discovery Award and the programmed activities in particular which have been led by The Conservation Volunteers. We have been discovering and exploring wild places, including the canal, canal tow path, Easter Carmuirs Park, and the woods beside Tamfourhill Community Hub. I believe conservation and giving back to nature is a key element of community safety especially within the context of climate change. In next weeks blog I will be highlighting the work that is being carried out to confirm a local Community Climate Action Plan.

Inviting feedback on the ideas for play opportunities in Easter Carmuirs Park

From March – May 2022 the team behind the project to make proposals for play opportunities in the park worked with local school children, had discussions with local residents at a pop-up ‘play in the park’ event, and engaged with participants at the Twilight Sports Sessions to develop a series of suggestions for actions and projects which could make the park a more inclusive, inspiring and play-ful place.

We would like to know what you think of the ideas for the play opportunities we’ve identified.

• You can feedback your preferences using this PDF which has clickable boxes: please rank the projects from 1-12 in order of their priority to you (with 1 as the top priority project). 
• If you don’t like a project at all, just put a X in the box
• Please return completed PDF surveys to playECP@gmail.com.  If you’d like to add more detailed comments please feel welcome to email them to this address too, where we will collect all feedback and responses.

You can read a more detailed ‘project sheet’ on each suggestion on the Play ECP Facebook page, just search Play ECP to see more about each idea and join the discussion.

Below is a PDF file version of the feedback form , please download and return your completed forms as detailed above to: playECP@gmail.com

This project is managed by Green Action Trust, working in partnership with Our Place Camelon & Tamfourhill and with consultant landscape architect LTLA. It is funded by the Community Renewal Fund. 

The second local project requiring your input is the Climate Change Survey. The Community Climate Action Plan Core Group are looking at what projects they think or believe can be developed locally which will address the climate emergency. These proposed projects and initiatives will better prepare Camelon and Tamfourhill to respond effectively to the many problems the community will face due to climate change. This will include new opportunities to support positive developments like making our community buildings more energy efficient and therefore lower costs for heating and lighting. The Core Group would be grateful if you could complete this very short survey on Climate change, the survey can be done online if you follow this link:

https://forms.office.com/r/rYN3MyW2Ea

Thanks for your support:

The Twilight Sports Pilot Project has grown form strength to strength, it was a real wrench to have to leave the MUGA on Carradale Avenue in Tamfourhill, the sessions had become busier with regular faces turning up every week and where the inline skating and rollerblading proved to be very popular. We are now at Easter Carmuirs Park where football is now the lead sport, but there has also been great interest with the Dr Bike service provided by Forth Environment Link. Due to the level of demand, we have also continued with the Falkirk Wheelers and their inline skating sessions.

I don’t want to lose the focus of these sessions which are about community safety and providing positive, healthy opportunities for local young people on a Friday night when other more negative options are very easily drifted into. In this respect I would like to thank and acknowledge our colleagues in the fire and police services who have come down, got involved, had a laugh and who are building trust and positive relationships with the young people and their parents. I believe that this approach will be beneficial to everybody in the longer term as we facilitate trust and mutual respect which will all contribute to creating a safer Camelon and Tamfourhill. The Sports sessions return after a weeks holiday this Friday 10th June from 6pm-9pm at Easter Carmuirs Park. The full twilight sports programme is detailed below:

The Safer Streets roadshow concluded on the 26th May at Tamfourhill Community Hub car park , a number of consistent themes emerged through the community engagement at the roadshows, namely: Improved security and monitoring of key locations to make them safer places for everyone in the community, the prevalence of fly-tipping at specific locations, housing issues and a significant amount of networking took place which will facilitate new local approaches to tackling ASB ,and different groups and organisations were able to  highlight and signpost local people to their  support services and community provisions. A full evaluation and planning for future Safer Streets activities is planned for the end of this month. My fortnightly community safety drop-ins will continue, so you will only get me on my own, but I will nevertheless support any local person access or link with the other safer streets partners, my drop-in programme for the next month is: Wednesday 8th June 10am-12noon at Love Falkirk 1pm-3pm at Camelon Education Centre and Thursday 9th June 10am-12noon at Tamfourhill Community Hub, the kettle is always on so pop down for a chat about any community safety matters, issues or concerns.

The Core Group who are working on the Community Climate Action Plan (CCAP) have been meeting at Tamfourhill Community Hub, the most recent session was looking at what community-based projects could be supported and developed for Camelon and Tamfourhill. This has focussed upon: community growing opportunities, improving the energy efficiency of community buildings, developing renewable energy sources, healthy eating and cooking classes, setting up community orchards and creating new partnerships for delivering climate change activities in both the community and Falkirk high School. The Core Group are distributing a climate change survey and it would be really helpful if you could complete the survey, it will be available at all of next month’s community events and once there is an online link I wild post that onto the Our Place Social Media platforms.

I have been supporting climate change sessions with the Falkirk High School Changemakers Group which will be contributing to the wider CCAP. This involved an extensive litter pick from the school down to Lock 14 on the canal and through Camelon Public Park. This is a route that many young people from the school use for their lunches and has resulted in the area becoming very littered. The Changemakers group collected 12 bags of rubbish, some of which were recycled, and they also carried out a litter survey. This was further explored through the Group agreeing their own climate change strategies for the school, which will also help with reducing the level of littering on that particular route. The poster below highlights the top 10 litter problems around the school, and it will form part of an anti-littering and recycling campaign being organised for the school.  My thanks to Ella Gorman the Education officer at Falkirk council Waste Services for producing the poster and cofacilitating the session with the schools Changemakers group.  

To finish of this month’s bulletin, I want to highlight some community events and activities that are scheduled for the next few weeks, and I am sure will receive considerable community support and involvement:

• On Friday 14^th June from 1.30pm is Easter Carmuirs Primary Schools summer fayre, in particular there will be some excellent news to announce with the launch of the Sustrans Pocket Places Project which will see some improvements to the parking and access problems around the school and therefore a better environment for active travel to school. This has been a long-term area of work which is closely aligned to the local community safety strategy and the aspiration to create a lower traffic neighbourhood with much improved road safety. Please pop along on Friday and find out the details about this new exciting local school and community development.
• I am pleased to announce that after the destruction of the community planted tree saplings in Brown Street park that there will be a replanting event involving Carmuirs Primary school and this will take place before the end of the summer term, I will highlight and focus on this event in next month’s community safety blog.
• The Our Place Project has been working closely with the Green Action Trust and Liz Thomas a landscape architect at Easter Carmuirs Park and Liz will be circulating a consultation flyer which details a number of possible safe play developments for the park. I will make sure that this document is made widely available on the Our Place social media platforms and invite all interested people to contribute to that prioritising exercise.  
• And finally, after a 2-year absence Mariners Day returns in the form of the community fun day which is taking place on Saturday 11^th June from 1pm-4pm in Camelon Park on Stirling Road, directly across from the golf club. All inflatables, games, and food are free, and it is shaping up to be a wonderful family day and celebration of the Mariners and the local community.